Farage’s Reform party won’t succeed – but may end Boris’ time as PM

Nigel Farage has decided to soft reboot the Brexit party. This ‘new’ party will be anti-lockdown, anti-quango, anti-House of Lords, with a lot of talk about illegal immigration along the way. Particularly in an age where populism appears to be on the wane, the Reform party will only appeal to a niche audience. Will it get more than eight per cent in the polls? It’s hard to see how. The party will struggle to manage to scale the boundaries the voting system pits against small parties and win a seat in the House Commons. Even at local level, they won’t do all that well. But as Ukip did, Reform might just change everything in British politics.

Passionate anti-lockdown sentiment is only felt by a small minority. All polling suggests efforts to restrict the spreading of Covid are overwhelmingly supported by the public. Yet those who believe that locking down is an outrageous curbing of our God-given rights as free-born Englishmen are extremely passionate in this belief.