Panic has set in among Reform's senior figures
Senior figures within Reform UK are panicking that Farage’s close links with President Trump could cause them damage in the upcoming local elections in May.
The FT reports that Reform are in panic mode because they fear they won’t be making the kinds of ‘steamrolling’ gains that their party was previously forecasting, not least of all because Reform have been hit with a number of scandals as well as because of Farage’s association with Trump.
The paper reports one source as saying: “Considering where we were 16 months ago, the results in May will be historically extraordinary but expectations were set that they were going to be a steamroller,” said one senior figure in the party. “They haven’t controlled the messaging.”
“The person added that they worried Reform could get below 25 per cent of vote share on May 7, which could undermine Farage’s message that the party is storming towards a general election victory.”
Others are worried about the timing of the US-Israel war with Iran and that it will damage Reform given Farage initially supported the war and is a cheerleader for Trump.
Meanwhile, Reform’s candidates have been mired in a number of scandals, with some being suspended.
On Tuesday, its mayoral candidate for Hampshire and Solent was suspended after he described members of a Jewish charity ambulance service that was victim of an arson attack as “Islamists on horseback”.
And in another incident one of the party’s Welsh candidates was pictured appearing to perform a Nazi salute.
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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