From Farage's late registrations of financial interests to Reform endorsing Trump's expansionist fantasties in Greenland, the party hasn't had a good week
This week Tory defections to Reform have dominated the headlines, with the switches being dubbed “big wins” for Nigel Farage. What is being talked less are the multiple “big disasters” Reform has had this week.
From Farage’s late registration of more than £380,000 in payments, to a scandal involving their London mayoral candidate Laila Cunningham and the party praising Donald Trump’s expansionist fantasies, there have been many moments that show why Reform should not be trusted to govern.
1. Nigel Farage registers financial interests late 17 times
The parliamentary watchdog has found that Nigel Farage, who has nine ‘second’ jobs outside of his role as an MP, failed to declare more than a dozen payments from jobs and donors on time. The payments were for more than £380,000, just over four times his salary as an MP. Farage said that his repeated failure to register his interests on time was an “administrative error”. Pressed on what that “administrative error” was, he said that he had been “extremely let down by a very senior member of staff”. The Parliamentary Commissioner concluded that the breach was “inadvertent”.
But is this behaviour really prime minister material?
2. Reform says Trump should own Greenland
From taking his ideas of setting up a Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) team, to promising mass deportations of migrants, in a move that would mirror the horrors of what Trump’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) team is doing in the US, Farage is keen to copy Trump. Speaking at a panel in Davos on Wednesday, Farage said the world would be “a better, more secure place” if Trump took over Greenland. He then briefly mentioned that he believes in national self-determination. Reform MP Sarah Pochin also sided with Trump over Greenland. Speaking with sacked TalkTV presenter Mike Graham, she said: “Donald Trump is raising a really important issue”.
She added: “We’ve got two hostile superpowers circling up there in the Arctic… And Donald Trump is shining a light on this issue, quite rightly in Reform’s view.” When it comes down to it, Reform not only fails to stand up for democracy and self-determination, but endorses the opposite.
3. Robert Jenrick gets heckled at Reform rally
On Monday night, Tory defector Robert Jenrick’s first speech as a Reform MP didn’t quite go to plan. The minute he began speaking at the Reform rally in his constituency of Newark, a man started angrily shouting “Robert, Robert, why won’t you leave us?”. Jenrick didn’t take the hint, and said to the man: “Good to see you my friend”, before thanking the crowd (presumably excluding the heckler) for the “very warm welcome”.
4. Lee Anderson condemned after claiming there ‘will be casualties’ at the next election
At the same Reform rally in Newark, Lee Anderson drew sharp criticism after telling Reform supporters that the next general election would be “a crucial fight”
He said “We have just one chance to save our country, this is a fight for the heart and soul of our great country, a fight we must win, a fight that will get dirty and there will be casualties.” Anderson also called political opponents “an infestation”.
Such language from a prominent Reform politician has sparked alarm. Anti-Brexit campaigner Femi Oluwole said the Reform MP for Ashfield was “inciting violence” with his words.
5. Reform’s candidate for Mayor of London co-owns unsafe squat hotel
If there is one issue that Laila Cunningham, Reform’s newly announced candidate for London Mayor constantly attacks Sadiq Khan about, it’s crime in the capital. It has now been revealed that Cunningham part-owns a hotel in West London, where victims have complained of feeling unsafe and the targets of crime. In reviews on Google, two guests complained of being robbed at the £50-a-night hotel. Given Cunningham has promised “all out war” on crime in the capital, maybe she should start with sorting out the hotel she part-owns?
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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