Nigel Farage speaks at the Reform UK conference, Birmingham, September 5, 2026 (PA Images / Alamy)
4 min read05 September
“Are you ready for some common sense?” Lee Anderson asked the party faithful as he delivered the opening speech of Reform’s annual conference on Friday lunchtime. “Well, you’ve come to the right place.”
But in truth the party chairman was papering over the cracks of an event that had already started to unravel, kicking off with a ‘business day’ that upset its corporate class, followed by the suspensions of two senior party figures over allegations they had arranged donations that broke electoral rules.
Things didn’t get any better for Reform at the NEC in Birmingham as questions thrown up by the investigation broadcast on Channel 4 dogged its senior figures. After multiple delays and disruptions to his first speech on Friday, Nigel Farage seemed relieved when he stepped off stage for the final time on Saturday afternoon, having closed proceedings with his second address to members.
A party figure dismissed these concerns, pointing out that it was the biggest conference they had ever put on, and reporting that feedback had been overwhelmingly positive from businesses and the rank and file.
But if the aim of the conference was to shift focus away from recent scandals and towards plans for the first 100 days of a Reform government, then it is unlikely to be deemed successful by many.
While previous Reform events had largely been extended rallies, the aim this year was to further professionalise the party’s apparatus and create conferences to rival those of Labour and the Conservatives. Reform is still experiencing the growing pains of an insurgent movement becoming a mainstream political force, however.
The Birmingham conference opened with a much-criticised business day on Thursday and the broadcast of the Channel 4 documentary into party donations. Although initially labelled a “hoax” by the party, on Friday morning Farage’s longtime aide Dan Jukes and the party’s head of policy, Cambridge professor James Orr, stepped down over the investigative report.
Even the way this unfolded became a source of contention, highlighting splits in the party when Anderson said the two men were “not coming back” and others said they had merely been suspended pending an investigation.
When asked about the matter, Robert Jenrick appeared to split the difference, saying Jukes and Orr had been “permanently suspended”.
Farage himself came out swinging, insisting they had been victims of entrapment and had done nothing illegal, referring to it as “a little local difficulty”.
But it undoubtedly cast a pall over events in Birmingham. At a press conference with French far-right politician Jordan Bardella, after he and Farage had signed a flagship “memorandum of understanding” aimed at stopping small boat crossings forever, every question directed at the Reform leader was about the donations scandal instead.
National Rally president Bardella – whose tub-thumping speech on the merits of patriotism won over an initially sceptical audience, threatening to make him the breakout star of conference – watched on as Farage read out a pre-prepared written statement. Comments made by Jukes and Orr in the report were, Farage said, simply “loose pub talk”.
The Reform leader’s afternoon went from bad to worse after his speech was delayed for an hour due to security concerns, then interrupted on five separate occasions by climate protesters. The police are now investigating claims that the disruptors were assaulted while being removed from the auditorium.
Party members in attendance did not appear bothered. The latest development in the Reform donations scandal was yet another attempt to “smear” the party, according to two young activists who spoke to PoliticsHome. It was “just a stitch-up by the media establishment”, said a Reform councillor.
Reform officials similarly sought to play down the significance of the investigation, as well as the teething problems of hosting a big event. They made the case on Saturday that the story had faded in importance, allowing Jenrick to deliver his big new tax policy.
In his first address to conference since defecting from the Conservatives, the party’s economic spokesman announced that he would raise the tax-free personal allowance to £15,000 within the first 100 days of a Reform government.
A Jenrick adviser said Farage had dealt with the donations story, allowing them “to get a hearing” on a policy they were excited about, describing it as a “wedge in between Labour and the Tories” on taxation.
After Jenrick’s speech, Farage made an unannounced appearance on the Reform livestream alongside presenter Jeremy Kyle, looking relaxed ahead of his own closing speech. Despite fears protesters could disrupt him again, he romped through his thank-yous and sent the remaining members home in high spirits.
Insisting on his prediction that Andy Burnham will call an early election within months, Farage wanted to land the message that Reform is ready for government and would be able to force through its policy agenda after an election win. But while conference may have ended with an enthusiastic rendition of the national anthem, lingering doubts are yet to be drowned out.