Nigel Farage Plunges U.K. Politics Into Turmoil
He threatens stranglehold of mainstream parties with dramatic election sweep.
O BY DAVID LUHNOW AND MAX COLCHESTER
ne year ago, britain’s populist politi- cian Nigel Farage wasn’t sure whether he would even run for Parliament in a coming national election after failing seven previous times to
win a seat. The former commodities trader
not only went on to win a seat, but his upstart Reform UK Party surged in popularity on an anti-immigration platform and is now polling neck-and- neck with the ruling Labour Party and narrowly ahead of the opposition Conservatives. The party is also doing far bet-
ter than previously at the ballot box. Reform won a historic victory after local elections in May, taking dozens of local council seats from the Conserva- tive Party. Its highest vote share came in Tony Blair’s old constituency of Sedgefield, a former coal mining center. It also won by six votes a special Parliamentary election in a seat Labour had won just last summer with a 14,700 majority — increas- ing Reform’s presence in the House of Commons to five members of Parliament and showing it can siphon off votes from both the right and the left. The surge has transformed Farage from a colorful side-
show into a leading attraction, with a real shot at what until now seemed a far-fetched idea: becoming prime minister. “I think we’ve supplanted the Conservative Party now as
the main opposition party to the Labour government,” said Farage, who smokes cigarettes and is often pictured quaff- ing pints of beer, part of his public persona as an average “bloke” who tells it like it is. (He has been called “Donald Trump with a pint.”) The rise of Reform and its frontman reflects the same
kinds of populist forces that have disrupted politics in the U.S., continental Europe, and elsewhere: resentment at the perceived failures of traditional politicians and frus- tration at how globalization played out in industrialized nations for many in the working class, including a sense
that too many jobs went overseas and too many people came in through immigration. Farage, who rose to prominence as a champion for Brex-
it and one of the few British politicians to openly embrace Trump, is trying to ride that disaffection to pull off a Trump- style takeover of British politics. The difference is that instead of taking over an establish-
ment party, Farage has built his own. Reform has climbed from just 8% support in polling two
years ago to 14% during last year’s election. Now it is polling between 23% to 26%, roughly tied with Labour and a few points clear of the Conservatives, called the Tories, who face the threat of being replaced as the go-to right-wing party. Rising support for Reform follows a
record surge in immigration to the U.K. in recent years under the Tories, who governed from 2010 to 2024. The Con- servatives repeatedly promised, and failed, to lower immigration numbers, leading some voters to feel betrayed. Farage wants to transform Reform
GRAND PLAN Nigel Farage, celebrating the election of his party’s fifth MP, wants to transform Reform UK into a national movement and win the next general election, likely in 2029.
into a national movement to overtake the Tories on the right and win the next general election, likely in 2029. Winning power is still a long shot.
Farage’s party is largely a one-man band, and he has a history of bust-ups
with colleagues and allies. Meanwhile, his populist economic policies are scattershot, ranging from abolishing inheritance taxes to nationalizing the steel industry.
While Farage’s previous attempts to build a political party descended into chaos, this time he appears more disciplined, and his party is better funded. It isn’t just the rise of Reform on the right; the Green Party
and the Liberal Democrats are threatening Labour on the left. Labour and the Conservatives together mustered just 57% of the vote in last year’s general election — the lowest share in a century. “Britain’s two-party system is probably facing its biggest
threat in a century,” said John Curtice, a politics expert at the University of Strathclyde. The U.K. is now a five-party system, he said. “We are seeing a fragmentation of our politics the likes of
which I never thought we would see,” said Farage. “You’re witnessing the end of a party that has been around since 1832,” said Farage of the Tories. “It is disappearing.”
JUNE 2025 | NEWSMAX 47
ANTHONY DEVLIN/GETTY IMAGES
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