Nigel Farage promises Reform Party will ‘rigorously vet candidates’ in future

Nigel Farage pledged that Reform UK would “rigorously vet candidates at all levels” in future, in his opening speech at the party conference.

Addressing the crowd in Birmingham, Mr Farage said the party did not have “the time” or “the space” for “a few extremists to destroy the work of a party that now has 80,000 members”.

He described the weekend conference as the moment his party “achieved its majority” after winning five MPs in July’s general election.

Reflecting on the hours immediately after the election, Mr Farage said he had said “yes, of course I would represent the constituency” but that he had a “task to professionalise and democratise Reform UK”.

“It was a solemn promise and commitment that I made to you, the members.”

Mr Farage told the crowd he believed his “promise to professionalise the party was now on track”, and added: “I also promise that in future we will rigorously vet candidates at every level, I promise you that.

“We do not have the time, we do not have the space for a few extremists to destroy the work of a party that today has 80,000 members and whose number increases by several hundred every day.”

All five of Britain’s reformist MPs elected in the general election spoke in the auditorium on Friday, the first day of the weekend conference at which Mr Farage declared his party “achieved its majority”.

“The child that was Reform UK has grown up,” he said in his speech.

“We had teenage tantrums that hurt us in the general election. But we are at a different stage now. The party has come of age and this weekend is the moment when Reform UK comes of age.”

The Liberal Democrats won 72 seats in the general election with a smaller share of the popular vote than Reform UK, and Mr Farage told delegates his party must “take inspiration from the Liberal Democrats” in future.

“That doesn’t mean you’ll see me going down waterfalls and I won’t behave in ways that I find particularly stupid, even if other people think that’s the case,” he said.

“But the Liberal Democrats are building branches, the Liberal Democrats are winning seats at district, county and unit level.

“The Liberal Democrats are building on this strength. They are regularly distributing leaflets and tracts in targeted areas.”

Speaking to Mr Farage, Ashfield MP Lee Anderson said his party would win “hundreds of seats” in the 2025 local government elections.

“Next year we’re going to win hundreds of seats, council seats, across the country – that’s a fact,” he said.

Mr Farage also said the party would need to win “hundreds” of council seats to call the local elections a success.

He told reporters after the first day of the conference: “It’s going to take hundreds of people, that’s the goal. That’s the end.”

He added: “Actually, I can do a lot of things at the top, Zia can do a lot of things at the top, Richard can do a lot at the top, but ultimately it’s this liberal-democratic machine on the ground that we have to build. And I’m not saying it’s easy, but I sense, and you’ve seen it today, that these people are really enthusiastic. I mean they really want to do this.”

Asked whether the Reform Party was a “taxpayer-funded sideline” because of its voting record in the House of Commons, Mr Farage said: “When it comes to voting, I’ve voted more than the other party leaders.”

Mr Farage referred to comments by SAS: Who Dares Wins star Ant Middleton, who spoke at the conference and said he believed the country was in “societal decline”.

He said civil unrest “is happening and getting worse.”

He added: “You can’t even walk around the West End of London wearing a watch after nine o’clock at night and women can’t wear jewellery.

“So, you know, are we in societal decline? Yes, I think so.”

Earlier on Friday, party deputy leader Richard Tice told the PA news agency that Mr Farage’s relationship with former US president Donald Trump was “in the interests of this country”.

Mr Farage has visited the United States three times since being elected as MP for Clacton, including to attend the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee two weeks after the election.

Speaking before the conference, Mr Tice said that “as the leader of a party that is emerging as a major player in international affairs, our relationship with our most important strategic international partner – the United States – is very important and the world will be a safer place if Donald Trump wins the presidential election.”

“Nigel’s strong relationship with Donald Trump is actually good for this country and it’s only right that he should consolidate and strengthen it,” Mr Tice added.