Reform Party Conference 2026

Henham was up at the NEC in Birmingham for Reform Party Conference last week – an event which was notably bigger than last year’s, but not necessarily better. The exhibition hall had grown, corporate attendance was up and the party ran its first dedicated Business Day on the Thursday. But those who came looking for policy detail they could usefully engage with will have come away largely disappointed.

The theme and underlying message of the conference was all about what the first 100 days of a Reform government would consist of. Reform’s top brass took it in turns to make eye-catching pledges to cut taxes, lower energy bills, stop the boats, and to resign if these pledges have not been kept within 100 days of forming a new government. A ‘First 100 Days’ policy document was published during the conference and Farage said he would declare a ‘national emergency’ on day one of being Prime Minister, with parliament then sitting for up to 24 hours a day, six days a week to do what was required.

He argued that Reform could and would act where the major parties have failed to do so and, in his ‘action this day’ approach, he is looking to draw a contrast with Burnham’s ‘ten-year plan’ and the fourteen years of Conservative Government. In terms of framing this is smart and effective, but the conference itself and recent incidents do not give a lot of confidence that Reform is currently set up to deliver what it’s promising.  

The conference was far from an organisational masterclass. The business day was widely criticised, the agenda for the main conference slipped badly (in response to it taking up to two hours for some people to gain entry), different areas of the conference site appeared to be unmarked and there were no maps to help people navigate. There were few opportunities to meaningfully engage and several corporate affairs leads we spoke to told us they left without the conversations they came for. Reform’s central assertion is that they, and only they, can make the British state work at speed…there are some legitimate question marks over that claim given they can’t even properly run a two and a half day conference at the NEC.

Much more significantly, it is clear that the party has been badly rocked by the donor scandal which emerged on Thursday evening. Two senior figures had to stand down (one of whom had been engaging wholeheartedly with private sector representatives throughout Reform’s Business Day) and, although many delegates were unmoved by the news, Reform insiders we spoke to were clearly perturbed, not least given how central both Dan Jukes and James Orr were to Reform’s operations and the development of their policy platform.

Reform denies wrongdoing and is trying to write this off as entrapment, but being reported to the Metropolitan Police and the Electoral Commission at a time when there are question marks over the £5 million donation to Nigel Farage from Christian Harborne, and with Reform going the wrong way in the polls, is clearly not ideal.

None of this is an argument for disengagement. Reform holds eight MPs, two mayors, more than 2,400 councillors and control of a large number of councils. It is safe to assume those numbers are going to grow in the months and years to come. But the fact remains that one needs to work hard to have meaningful engagement with Reform. There are relatively few people with genuine power and the ability to make significant decisions – and this year’s party conference was not the place to work with them.

‍

Official portrait of Nigel Farage MP by Chris McAndrew, used under CC BY 3.0.