Could Farage’s autocratic streak wreck Reform?

Ten Reform party councillors in Derbyshire have resigned in protest at Nigel Farage’s ‘autocratic’ control of the rising party and its direction of travel. Farage has dismissed the revolt as the action of what he calls a ‘rogue branch’ of Reform, but there are stirrings of discontent in the grassroots of the fast-growing party that may signal more than minor teething troubles.

There are legitimate questions to be asked both about Reform’s structure and the way that Farage’s robust personality impacts upon it

At Dudley in the Midlands, an established Reform candidate was summarily dropped after a former Tory MP for the seat, Mario Longhi, defected to Reform and was adopted as the prospective candidate – reinforcing the impression that Reform’s leadership is more interested in headhunting disaffected and opportunistic former Tories than in keeping loyal ordinary members on board.

Many members liked the radical former Reform party secretary Ben Habib, who quit the party late last year for the same reasons as the Derbyshire ten.