Reform conference gets under way – as Farage returns from Trump meeting

Farage-led party conferences used to be relatively ramshackle affairs.

The 2013 UKIP gathering saw then MEP Godfrey Bloom engulfed in a row after declaring that women never cleaned behind the fridge.

He followed that up by accusing a group of female party activists of being “sluts”.

And all this took place at a panel event titled “women in politics”.

“It used to be a case of ‘let’s go and see the strange people in the reservation’,” said Reform board member and long-time Farage aide Gawain Towler.

“It’s chalk and cheese [compared to now], they were rallies of the faithful and this is a conference of a government in waiting,” he added.

While that pronouncement may be premature – and awkward moments of the Bloom-era ilk can never be ruled out – the party of 2025 is certainly a world away, in organisational terms, from the rag-tag operations of yesteryear.

As such, this conference will look and feel far more like the annual events of Westminster’s established parties.

There are fringe events – with former Tory cabinet ministers Michael Gove and Jacob Rees-Mogg making appearances.

Think tanks, pollsters, and mainstream institutes will be in attendance, alongside multinational organisations like Japan Tobacco and TikTok.

Property developer Thakeham homes have a full page advert in the conference programme, with the National Farmers Union and British Association for Shooting and Conservation appearing too.

That said, one report in the Financial Times suggested other chief executives were still wary of attending in case their presence was seen as a sign of support for the often controversial party.

Nevertheless, insiders expect 12,000 people to file into the NEC across two days, with member tickets sold out but “platinum” passes still available for the princely sum of £2,500 – granting holders priority seating and a champagne breakfast with Nigel Farage.

The leader himself will speak on Friday afternoon after landing Thursday morning back from Washington, where he had been giving evidence to Congress about freedom of speech as well as squeezing in a meeting with Donald Trump.

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Who could be on the guest list?

As for the visuals, one official declared simply “there’s always pyro, there are always sparklers”.

A “special guest” will address the conference before the leader’s speech as well, with Reform sources insisting that journalists would not be able to “waterboard” the name out of the party in advance.

Speculation also abounds over surprise appearances more generally. Could there be any more Tory defectors after Nadine Dorries jumped ship? Or an intervention from across the Atlantic?

The former race hate inmate turned self-styled freedom fighter Lucy Connolly is a name being whispered around newsrooms too.

What’s on the agenda?

As far as policy goes, many of the events focus on the bread and butter of the Reform pitch – migration, free speech, council waste, crime and net zero.

But there are also panels on more niche and knotty topics such a high street regeneration, tourism and even car finance.

The broader theme of the conference is also relatively restrained with an emphasis on “the next step” in its own evolution.

Reform clearly wants to project a message to the nation that they are a party that has chiselled off the oddness in favour of a serious set of people and proposals that could genuinely work in government.

That moment is a long way off, though, and while Reform insists it is now presenting valid policies, big question marks still hang over the feasibility and affordability of much the party puts out.

From deportation and asylum to nationalisation and benefits, the thread running through the offering seems to be less about any set ideology and more about what is popular with the millions of Britons who feel abandoned by the mainstream political system.

In that way, the appeal of Nigel Farage is the same as it has always been.

The decades-long rider of waves of public disenchantment, now trying to figure out how to turn the anger into action.