The resignation and U-turn by Reform UK former chairman Zia Yusuf is unlikely to dent support for Nigel Farage’s insurgent party. Still, Reform can ill afford further signs of internal power struggles, even if inflated by the media. The whole episode may well have been a storm in the proverbial teacup, and any purported bust-up over Sarah Pochin’s burqa question overblown.
But Farage knows the media will pounce on any opportunity to foment talk of civil war. This is especially the case since the bust-up with Rupert Lowe, and ongoing rift with Ben Habib. Frankly all sides need to keep the dirty laundry as private as possible. Public mudslinging simply emboldens the Conservatives and Labour.
On June 9, Farage – with an eye to the Welsh elections – will call for steel furnaces to reopen in Port Talbot. This is part of Reform’s recent shift from its Thatcherism redux to a form of pragmatic patriotism which selectively embraces state ownership. While the Yusuf U-turn is more likely to get tongues wagging in Westminster than move the dial of public opinion, it underscores the need for Reform to not only speak with a united voice but to flesh out party policy.
Ben Habib’s criticism that Reform ought to have a burqa policy in place may be a little sharp but the party certainly needs to flesh out its ideas. To be fair, that process is well underway and the Port Talbot speech is surely part of it. Meanwhile, although it is perhaps premature for a party with just five MPs to have a fully formed shadow cabinet, over time it will need spokespeople on specific areas like defence and healthcare, whether in Parliament or not.
All the while Farage needs to avoid anything which could be spun as “chaos” by Reform’s enemies in the media and other parties. British politics must be a team sport, and Reform needs to look like team players. Farage’s party trades on being a fresh broom, plus benefits from Kemi Badenoch’s underwhelming leadership of the Conservatives, and Labour’s poor record since winning power last July.
But both Labour and Tory fortunes could improve. Heck, the Tories could get a new leader. Reform rides high now but this is no time for resting on laurels and Farage knows it. Reform’s star is unlikely to be dimmed by events last week but anything which smacks of internal struggles going public needs to be avoided from now on. Meanwhile policy needs fleshing out, professionalisation must continue, and the DOGE plan cannot afford to fall flat.