Is The Party Over For Reform?

The Leader of a party with five MPs is a more popular choice for Prime Minister than the Prime Minister who led his party to a landslide seven months ago. Yet behind it all, as James Jobson writes:

Reverberating resignations 

So, it comes to pass, in Derbyshire, that ten Reform UK councillors have resigned over Farage’s leadership. Ten. Just shy of a whole dozen. What an achievement for Nigel Farage. The councillors say that the party is being run in an “increasingly autocratic manner” and “has lost its sense of direction”. Already? Has Reform UK’s honeymoon really expired this quickly? 

Of course, councillor resignations don’t mean much in the grand scheme of things, do they? Keir Starmer was rocked by Labour councillors resigning in their tens before the general election yet he still got a 174-seat majority in the Commons. But read between the lines of that majority. The party lost votes despite gaining hundreds of seats. Such is the nature of our First Past the Post voting system. The number of parliamentary seats never matches the number of votes. This means that, actually, those resignations meant quite a bit. It signalled a loss of support and, in five seats, saw Labour MPs defeated by independent candidates.

Nigel Farage must take note here. He doesn’t have a strong starting base of MPs. Keir Starmer went into the election with 205 Labour MPs across Britain, a solid foundation to build on. So, despite having lost support in some areas which cost them seven seats across England, Labour was not in a position to crumble. Reform UK, however, will be going into the next general election with five MPs only. This means that should they lose support in or around these areas, with councillors resigning, it could have a detrimental effect. Labour lost seven MPs after their councillors started resigning in double figures and support started dropping, Reform UK doesn’t have seven to lose. Of course, each scenario and each party’s circumstances could very well be unrelated, but it would be foolish to dismiss things as mere coincidence.

Less than civil 

Just like his right-wing counterpart across the pond, Nigel Farage’s response was less than graceful. He said that the ten councillors who quit were candidates who were put forward by a “rogue branch” of the party and also said that “none of them passed vetting”.

So, there it is. Immediate blame game and buck passing. No responsibility taken; no reflections made on the fact his own councillors are resigning due to him running the party in an “increasingly autocratic manner”. Instead, accusations that they are a rogue branch and that the said councillors failed to pass vetting. But if they failed to pass vetting, surely that is something Nigel Farage should be taking responsibility for? Surely, the party must have a mechanism in place to safeguard against “rogue branches”? Once again, the spectre of Liz Truss’s incompetence rears its head as Reform UK seek to emulate her disastrous way of thinking by allowing unvetted and unchecked members to stand for election. That is one sure way to cause a setback at an election.

And, of course, who could forget the former deputy Reform leader Ben Habib? Unceremoniously cast aside from his role; after leaving the party claiming constitutional and democratic reasons, Nigel Farage called him “very bitter, very twisted” and also said “the fact that he’s walked away, frankly, is a huge relief”. What a way to talk about a former ally and party official. This highlights the Reform UK leader’s failure to deal with resignations properly. Leaders could do well and stem the tide in times like these, build bridges as opposed to burning them, but Farage doesn’t.

In the end, mass resignations like this always hit parties. But for a small party that isn’t even in double figures in parliament, this could prove fatal. Of course, it’s also down to how the leadership handles such a situation as well. But Nigel’s response makes it clear he’d rather burn bridges than build them, in true Trump style. As we all know, fire spreads and by burning bridges, Farage might also burn his election chances. By saying good riddance to all his party members, is the party over for him already?