The Daily T: Inside Reform's plot to make Nigel Farage PM
They've overtaken Labour in the polls for the first time, and now they have their sights set firmly on Number 10.
Despite Labour cancelling local elections for millions of voters, Reform aren't going anywhere, and in this episode we hear from one of the lynchpins of their success - Rupert Lowe MP.
He's sat down with our own Gordon Rayner to reveal how the party plans to win at the next election, why Labour are ruining the country, and what he thinks of Elon Musk and Tommy Robinson.
Watch episodes of the Daily T here. You can also listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts, and subscribe to The Daily T newsletter for updates.
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Has Nigel finally shown he can be a team player?
Court intrigue always makes good copy, and for that reason we journalists should be sure to add to any speculation about Zia Yusuf's dramatic yo-yoing in and out of Reform UK this week an important qualifier: his proffered explanation, that it was a misjudgement due to 'exhaustion', is perfectly plausible. Politics can be a gruelling business at the best of times, especially when trying to bootstrap a new party into a national force – not to mention a culture shock for people more used to the world of business. Yet if speculation was rife about Yusuf's spectacular (if short-lived) departure, it was in large part because Nigel Farage has in his long career in politics proven time and again that for all his strengths as a campaigner, he has a critical weakness: an apparently chronic inability to work with others and build institutions that last. No potential leadership rival lasts long. In 2015, he recommended Suzanne Evans as his replacement as leader of Ukip – only for the party to end up 'rejecting his resignation', leaving his rival's wings well and truly clipped. A year later, Diane James had the privilege of being Farage's successor for less than three weeks before he was back once again as interim leader (although he did then step back for good). Most recently, we have seen Reform UK struggle to coordinate even a small number of MPs, most obviously with the expulsion of Rupert Lowe (single-handedly responsible for almost half the recorded parliamentary work of Reform's entire caucus). But before that, Farage almost wrecked his party's alliance with the Northern Irish TUV by endorsing his old friend, the DUP's Ian Paisley Jr, against TUV leader Jim Allister – despite Allister having the Reform logo all over his leaflets. Awkwardly, Allister went on to win North Antrim. Things were eventually smoothed over, but the deal had to be renegotiated, and the cost of that may have been huge: had the Commons authorities accepted Allister as counting as a Reform candidate at the election, the party would have had six MPs – the magic number needed to unlock hundreds of thousands of pounds more in public funding each and every year. The history of the Faragist parties tells the same story. If Yusuf has his work cut out building a national campaigning force from scratch, part of the reason is that Farage allowed decades of effort to fall by the wayside when he abandoned Ukip. At the 2015 election, Ukip came second in a hundred seats; it had also started to make a breakthrough in local councils, albeit with many of the same teething problems now facing Reform. It even won seven seats in the Welsh Assembly in 2016. Farage's ability to snap his fingers and call a new party out of the earth, as he did with the Brexit Party, is undoubtedly impressive. But it reset the clock on all that organisational effort. In Europe, Right-wing parties successfully challenging the status quo tend to have a decade of work behind them: Spain's Vox and Germany's AfD were both founded in 2013; Giorgia Meloni's Fratelli d'Italia in 2012. Patching things up with Yusuf removes one big question mark about the long-term viability of Reform UK. But only one. Back-room organisation is necessary but not sufficient for sustained success, and Farage has yet to prove he can work with other politicians, especially ones of the calibre to succeed him one day. Until he does, Reform will remain a one-man band – and it's hard to build the party of the future around a man in his sixties who has already, more than once, tried to leave politics behind.
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Ex-Reform UK chair returns to party after two days
Zia Yusuf says he is returning to the populist Reform UK party, two days after quitting as its chair, blaming his abrupt resignation on exhaustion from the job. Yusuf, a businessman who is not an MP himself, resigned on Thursday hours after a row with a Reform parliamentarian over her call for a ban on the burqa, the full-length garment worn by some Muslim women. Yusuf became Reform chair last year, tasked by party leader Nigel Farage with professionalising the party. Over the last 24 hours I have received a huge number of lovely and heartfelt messages from people who have expressed their dismay at my resignation, urging me to 11 months of working as a volunteer to build a political party from scratch, with barely a single… — Zia Yusuf (@ZiaYusufUK) June 7, 2025 While it has since overtaken Prime Minister Keir Starmer's Labour in the polls and leads across the United Kingdom, the exit of several senior figures has raised questions over whether Farage can hold together a team ahead of the next election, expected in 2029. "After 11 months of working as a volunteer to build a political party from scratch, with barely a single day off, my tweet was a decision born of exhaustion," Yusuf said on X, referring to the earlier post announcing his resignation. Yusuf said he would focus on a new role overseeing an Elon Musk-inspired "UK DOGE team" within Reform that the party hopes will reduce wasteful spending at the councils it controls after its victory in a series of local elections last month. I am delighted that @ZiaYusufUK will head up Reform UK's DOGE will also assist the party with policy, fundraising and media appearances. Zia will continue to be an important part of the team we are building to fight and win the next general election. — Nigel Farage MP (@Nigel_Farage) June 7, 2025 The party has seen departures from its upper ranks before. One of its MPs, Rupert Lowe, was suspended by the party in March over allegations including threats of physical violence against Yusuf. No charges were brought against Lowe, who denies the allegations. And in November its deputy leader Ben Habib quit, citing "fundamental differences" with Farage. Farage said Yusuf would assist Reform with policy, fundraising and media appearances in addition to his work on local councils. "Zia will continue to be an important part of the team we are building to fight and win the next general election," Farage wrote on X.
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