Ben Habib is the former deputy leader of Reform UK, and was an MEP for the Brexit Party.
Against all predictions, Reform UK won seats in the general election. It also came second in 98 constituencies and became the third largest party by vote share. Its rise is of political historical significance.
If it stays the distance and hones its electoral strategy, there is every prospect of it either winning the next election or holding the balance of power in a Parliament split three ways. Reform must be taken seriously. It must also take itself seriously.
In its previous life, Reform was the Brexit Party; set up in a rush in early 2019 to contest the European Parliamentary elections. To be fleet of foot it was incorporated as a company, with its star performer, Nigel Farage, owning eight out of its 15 shares and Richard Tice, his deputy, owning five shares.
Tice had influence but Farage controlled the party. He still does, having added another one of the 15 shares to his ownership.
I was a Brexit Party MEP and, like the rest of us, left the party when the UK formally left the EU in January 2020. To his credit, Tice stayed on, renamed the party Reform UK, and kept it going in anticipation of a political comeback. Farage went on to pastures new, seeking a more remunerative life than that offered in politics.
At the time, I was deeply dissatisfied with Boris Johnson’s Withdrawal, and subsequent Trade and Cooperation, Agreements. Crucially, amongst other major defects, they did not deliver the country out of the EU as one United Kingdom: Northern Ireland had been left behind. I have spent the last four years fighting the Irish Sea border created by those agreements.
When Richard invited me to rejoin Reform in late 2022, I was reluctant to do so. Nigel had accepted Brexit being done and I had not; I did not want to join a party which was controlled by one individual, especially one with whom I was not fully aligned on this key constitutional matter.
We had extensive discussions over the party structure, but Farage declined to redistribute his shares in a way which would have at least created a partial democracy. In the end I settled for a letter of comfort from Tice in which he undertook to maintain the fight for Brexit and Northern Ireland, not to do any deals with the Tories, and to run the party consensually.
So I joined Reform in March 2023, becoming its deputy leader later that year.
Richard and I built good support for the party, taking it from six per cent in the polls when I joined to 16 per cent when the election was called in May this year. We did this on a shoestring the old-fashioned way, touring the country and being ever present on the airwaves. In the end, Reform won 14 per cent of the votes cast, in line with our pre-election polling.
Nigel had initially said he would not stand in the election. Appointing himself leader on 3 June came as much as a surprise to me as everyone else. With the change in leadership, I knew the letter Richard had written was no longer effective. Once again, I started pressing Tice and Farage to democratise the party.
Needless to say, a general election is no time to start the process of a restructuring, and we agreed to pick up the debate afterwards.
When the election was behind us, I was back on to both gents – but without much apparent success. So I began publicly campaigning for the party’s democratisation. Not a nod to democratisation, but Nigel genuinely giving up control.
There can be no chance of Reform being taken seriously or forming a government if it is controlled by one man. It matters not how great that man.
I am also acutely aware how vital it is that Reform succeeds. It is the only hope the country has of freeing itself from the grip of international and domestic unaccountable institutions, the hollowing out of our democracy and reversing the breaking of our United Kingdom.
Rocking the boat publicly has personally been very discomfiting. Many Reform voters have not liked it and I most certainly did not want to damage the party. But I had no alternative. For the sake of the party and the country, I had to stay firm.
I was therefore delighted when, on 22 August, Zia Yusuf, the party’s new chairman, declared that Farage would give up his controlling shareholding and the membership would be able to appoint and remove the party’s leader. Of course, that has yet to be put into effect, and I shall be monitoring the situation. But the declaration is a massive step forward.
Ben Habib is the former deputy leader of Reform UK, and was an MEP for the Brexit Party.
Against all predictions, Reform UK won seats in the general election. It also came second in 98 constituencies and became the third largest party by vote share. Its rise is of political historical significance.
If it stays the distance and hones its electoral strategy, there is every prospect of it either winning the next election or holding the balance of power in a Parliament split three ways. Reform must be taken seriously. It must also take itself seriously.
In its previous life, Reform was the Brexit Party; set up in a rush in early 2019 to contest the European Parliamentary elections. To be fleet of foot it was incorporated as a company, with its star performer, Nigel Farage, owning eight out of its 15 shares and Richard Tice, his deputy, owning five shares.
Tice had influence but Farage controlled the party. He still does, having added another one of the 15 shares to his ownership.
I was a Brexit Party MEP and, like the rest of us, left the party when the UK formally left the EU in January 2020. To his credit, Tice stayed on, renamed the party Reform UK, and kept it going in anticipation of a political comeback. Farage went on to pastures new, seeking a more remunerative life than that offered in politics.
At the time, I was deeply dissatisfied with Boris Johnson’s Withdrawal, and subsequent Trade and Cooperation, Agreements. Crucially, amongst other major defects, they did not deliver the country out of the EU as one United Kingdom: Northern Ireland had been left behind. I have spent the last four years fighting the Irish Sea border created by those agreements.
When Richard invited me to rejoin Reform in late 2022, I was reluctant to do so. Nigel had accepted Brexit being done and I had not; I did not want to join a party which was controlled by one individual, especially one with whom I was not fully aligned on this key constitutional matter.
We had extensive discussions over the party structure, but Farage declined to redistribute his shares in a way which would have at least created a partial democracy. In the end I settled for a letter of comfort from Tice in which he undertook to maintain the fight for Brexit and Northern Ireland, not to do any deals with the Tories, and to run the party consensually.
So I joined Reform in March 2023, becoming its deputy leader later that year.
Richard and I built good support for the party, taking it from six per cent in the polls when I joined to 16 per cent when the election was called in May this year. We did this on a shoestring the old-fashioned way, touring the country and being ever present on the airwaves. In the end, Reform won 14 per cent of the votes cast, in line with our pre-election polling.
Nigel had initially said he would not stand in the election. Appointing himself leader on 3 June came as much as a surprise to me as everyone else. With the change in leadership, I knew the letter Richard had written was no longer effective. Once again, I started pressing Tice and Farage to democratise the party.
Needless to say, a general election is no time to start the process of a restructuring, and we agreed to pick up the debate afterwards.
When the election was behind us, I was back on to both gents – but without much apparent success. So I began publicly campaigning for the party’s democratisation. Not a nod to democratisation, but Nigel genuinely giving up control.
There can be no chance of Reform being taken seriously or forming a government if it is controlled by one man. It matters not how great that man.
I am also acutely aware how vital it is that Reform succeeds. It is the only hope the country has of freeing itself from the grip of international and domestic unaccountable institutions, the hollowing out of our democracy and reversing the breaking of our United Kingdom.
Rocking the boat publicly has personally been very discomfiting. Many Reform voters have not liked it and I most certainly did not want to damage the party. But I had no alternative. For the sake of the party and the country, I had to stay firm.
I was therefore delighted when, on 22 August, Zia Yusuf, the party’s new chairman, declared that Farage would give up his controlling shareholding and the membership would be able to appoint and remove the party’s leader. Of course, that has yet to be put into effect, and I shall be monitoring the situation. But the declaration is a massive step forward.