Joe Pikepolitical correspondent
A Tannoy announcement was one of the first signs Reform UK’s conference agenda had been upended by events in Westminster.
The resignation of Angela Rayner had already threatened to distract from Nigel Farage’s keynote speech in Birmingham.
But when the Reform leader’s aides realised Keir Starmer was using that departure to start a full-blown cabinet reshuffle, they decided Farage should head to the stage almost immediately.
As the news blared out across the cafes and bars of the National Exhibition Centre, party members rushed to take their seats.
Reform conferences have become slick, big-budget affairs so few seemed surprised when pyrotechnics marked the leader’s arrival on stage.
“This government is deep in crisis,” Farage said, attempting to take advantage of Labour’s woes.
He argued that the cabinet were “wholly unqualified people to run our country.”
“They’re not fit to govern”, he said. “We are the party that stands up for decent working people, and we are the party on the rise.”
In an off-the-cuff speech, Farage claimed that instability on the left of politics meant that a general election could take place as early as 2027 – although Starmer is more likely to call one in 2029.
This seemed part of a wider argument that Reform should ramp up its campaigning activities and be prepared for all eventualities.
After the party’s success at May’s local and mayoral elections, he argued the 2026 races for the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Senedd would be “an essential building block” ahead of a UK general election.
A fellow I’m A Celebrity alumnus Nadine Dorries made a brief cameo – the ex-Conservative cabinet minister repeated her claim that her former political party was “dead”.
Another Tory defector, Mayor of Greater Lincolnshire Andrea Jenkyns, told me she believed three more former Conservative MPs were in talks to join Reform.
The party’s annual conference is an increasingly professional affair and Reform’s sustained lead in the opinion polls has clearly been noted by public affairs professionals.
The most obvious addition to attendees this year was a coterie of lobbyists touring the venue trying to understand how they might work with a Reform-led government.
Yet the influx of corporate interests does not seem to have overshadowed the colourful – and occasionally camp – feel of the party. Where else would you spot former Tory MP and Strictly star Ann Widdecombe accompanied by a stern bodyguard, or former daytime TV star Jeremy Kyle wandering around the exhibition hall?
After dominating the domestic news agenda for much of the summer with pronouncements on illegal immigration, Reform’s 2025 conference has undoubtedly been overshadowed by the Rayner reshuffle drama.
The party and its members remain bullish about their chances in the years ahead.
Yet time can be a dangerous commodity in politics. Whether the next general election is in two years as Farage predicts or in four years’ time as is more likely, a lot can shift fast – including opinion polls.
Maintaining that lead is Farage’s biggest challenge.
“We will take that seriously”, he said, before adding that Reform would need 5,000 vetted candidates by next year.
Farage announced a new department to help Reform get ready for the possibility of government, and said the party’s former chairman Zia Yusuf had been appointed its head of policy.
He pledged “serious” cuts to the benefits bill and made the bold claim that he could “stop the boats within two weeks”. Farage gave no details as to how either might be achieved.