Reform UK: trouble at t'mill

Tensions within Reform UK have spilled over after Nigel Farage ousted its two longstanding deputy leaders and made other changes at the top. Ben Habib, who had been co-deputy leader since March 2023, said he was considering his position after Farage told him he was being replaced by Richard Tice.

In a gesture of open protest, Habib took to X to say “I am considering my position more generally in light of this change. I have long held concerns about the control of the party and the decision making processes” in reference to the structure of Reform, meaning there is little or no input from members, nor brakes on Farage’s decisions.

The millionaire businessman Zia Yusuf, who has emerged as one of Reform’s most significant new funders, has been named as the party’s new chair.

This move was greeted with dismay among Habib’s supporters on X this morning. He is well liked and seen as the party’s intellectual driving force. We can only speculate why Farage has made this move, but one suspects it has more to do with making a role for Zia Yusuf and his ample chequebook than any animosity towards Habib. But it seems that Habib, having failed to win the Wellingborough seat, is seen by Farage as expendable.

This was expected. Farage has a gang, not a party. You're either in the gang or you ain't. You can be elected into it by the public, or you can buy your way into it. Everyone else is essentially a servant.

It is also possible that Farage has sensed a potential challenge to his authority. Habib has (rightly) spoken openly about the need for democratising Reform. I remarked at the time that I believed he was sincere, but didn't believe he would succeed. Any vessel run by Farage will always be a dictatorship. The party can provide policy and strategy but Farage won't bother to learn either, and will change them on a whim.

What makes this doubly hard to swallow for many Reform supporters is that Zia Yusuf has come out of nowhere to essentially buy his way to the top without putting the work in. Ben Habib had earned his position.

There is also be considerable unease that the post has been awarded to a Muslim and Farage is making great virtue of this. It is seen as politically correct window dressing to fend off any accusation of racism, proving once again that the party is sensitive to name-calling from the left. Support from the nationalist right will peel away as a result.

Of course, this humble blogger is not in the least surprised that it only took a week before one of Reform’s heavyweights was on the way out. But something tells me this isn’t the last of it. I just don’t see Farage and Anderson rubbing along well together since Anderson has a mind of his own and is no fawning Farage acolyte. This time next year, the five will be four.

As it happens, I’m not quite so impressed with Ben Habib as his many fans are, but I do respect his dedication and loyalty to the cause. It would be an enormous personal failure of Farage to lose Ben Habib. Nobody has worked harder for the party, and the party owes its recent successes to Habib for so ably keeping the pilot light on. If Farage believes men like Habib (a highly effective communicator and compelling speaker) are expendable, then Reform really doesn't have a future.

In my view Habib should be earmarked for a winnable seat in 2029, and his efforts should be supported - especially when there is no more dedicated servant of the Union. They should at least make him policy director (if he wants the job). Reform's absolute priority should be building and retaining a large talent pool. If the party is just whoever's in Farage's gang, it will forever remain a personality cult.

Ultimately, Refrom’s future is contingent on the party overcoming Farage’s many character flaws. With an effective organisation and a ground game in places where Reform came a close second, there is scope for the party to win a dozen more seats to rival the Lib Dems, and perhaps become the third party in politics. Within two elections, splitting the Tory party wouldn’t sound as far-fetched as it does now.

But that all rests on whether the party can develop an intellectual foundation, coherent policies and a nationwide grassroots organisation. Habib clearly understands this, but if Farage doesn’t, and he retains his iron dictatorial grasp on the organisation, there will be no movement that can withstand the departure of its leader. It will evaporate as fast as it rose.

In the round, taking into account other recent missteps by Farage, I lean (as ever) toward pessimism. History repeats and leopards don’t change their spots.