LONDON — Nigel Farage has always faced a battle to get Reform UK ready for the next general election. Labour’s nascent recovery under Andy Burnham is only increasing the urgency. The insurgent right-wing force has only about 100 star candidates considered ready to run as MPs — bar a final vet, two people aware of the process told POLITICO.
That’s a long way from the 650 needed to contest every Westminster seat. A nationwide Reform UK roadshow to pluck out more potential candidates begins its second lap of the country next week, with the pressure on to get hundreds more quality representatives before Burnham pulls the election trigger. Recruiters are also searching for hundreds of prospective peers, which the party believes it might need to prevent the unelected House of Lords from blocking its program for government if Farage does enter Downing Street.
What was always going to be a rush to get battle-ready is taking place under greater urgency amid speculation Andy Burnham, the new Labour prime minister, could trigger an early election, though one is not due until 2029. It was late in June that Richard Tice stood on Westminster’s College Green confidently calling for a general election as it became clear that Keir Starmer would be replaced by Burnham. That’s not how everyone felt.
They, like others in this piece, were granted anonymity to discuss internal matters. Those who have participated in the party’s nationwide recruitment tour describe the boot camp-like grillings taking place under a “semi-omerta.” “It’s like Fight Club,” a senior Reform figure involved in selections joked. To repeat the slapdash approach of old could be fatal to Farage’s chances of ever becoming prime minister.
The party has set up a new vetting process run by Paul Nuttall, the party’s deputy chairman, and candidate testers have already spent nearly 32 days touring the nation. Through Blackpool, Wales, Peterborough and Maidstone, to name but a few stops, old hands have been putting would-be MPs through their paces. All without any forewarning.
They have watched a string of former Tory colleagues try to win over the judges so they can run for Farage’s party. This time around there’s nothing of that sort. It is a very impressive procedure.” The official cited above estimates the reputational damage of having to suspend support for candidates amid allegations of racism shaved off around 4% of Reform’s vote at the 2024 general election.
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