- Published
"It makes us look a bit like a pirate ship," a senior Reform figure acknowledges privately, deeply frustrated that after a year in which they say the party has "radically professionalised" the events of the last few days could still happen.
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events → make → days
It was the recurring conversation throughout Reform UK's conference in Birmingham: the consequences of the undercover filming broadcast by Channel 4 News which has cost two senior party figures their jobs, at least for now.
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which → recur → jobs
How much damage does it cause to Reform?
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it → cause → Reform
And what does it tell us about them?
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it → tell → them
We have roundheads too.
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We → have → roundheads
Those who ask the boring questions.
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who → ask → questions
We need more of them," this same senior figure adds.
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figure → need → them
The story of Reform over the last 12 months can be summarised in three words: defections, elections and money.
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story → summarise → words
Defections, those who leave one party and join another, have been a big part of the party's growth in the last year – not least the recruitment of former Conservative cabinet ministers Robert Jenrick and Suella Braverman.
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who → leave → ministers
But so too has money.
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money → have → ?
In the hour or two before its broadcast on Thursday night, senior Reform figures, including those directly caught up in it, projected a sense of being relatively relaxed about it.
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figures → include → it
Once it was broadcast, things changed.
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things → broadcast → ?
There was fury, I am told, and very quickly there was a sense of its gravity.
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I → be → gravity
"A few bottles of red were had, and we knew we had to act," is how one source described it to me.
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source → have → me
The conversations went on into the early hours.
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conversations → go → hours
Firstly, there was anger that it would drown out a conference that has been months in the planning.
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that → be → planning
And yes, it has dominated conversation here in Birmingham.
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it → dominate → Birmingham
Secondly, there was widespread concern about the image it projected, the impression it would leave.
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it → be → image
Reform wants to project itself as ready to run the country.
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Reform → want → country
Some saw James Orr's work as head of policy as key to that professionalisation.
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Some → see → professionalisation
Orr as well as Dan Jukes, a close aide to Nigel Farage, have been suspended and both deny wrongdoing.
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both → suspend → wrongdoing
"We need people to see the reality that Reform is getting ready for government," I am told.
And yet the headlines allow critics to claim they are not just ramshackle and amateurish but can point to what looks like a pattern of activity, consciously pursued, to breach the law.
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what → need → law
Absolutely not, Nigel Farage insisted to me, there was no such pattern.
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Farage → insist → me
Journalist Tim Shipman in The Spectator writes , externalthat "it is the experience of everyone I have ever known near the summit of politics that political operations take their character and operating logic from the person at the apex of the triangle.
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operations → write → triangle
Leaders set culture."
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Leaders → set → culture
They were wildly different culturally, reflecting the very different characters at their helm.
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They → reflect → helm
Would all the things that happened during Partygate under Johnson have happened under Sunak?
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that → happen → Sunak
Unlikely, I would have thought.
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I → think → ?
Some within Reform, who are full of admiration for Nigel Farage's chutzpah and gift as a communicator, are desperate to see a behind-the-scenes cultural shift that minimises the chances of further embarrassments.
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that → see → embarrassments
Farage's team express frustration that this is precisely what they have been doing, but some are telling them internally they need to move more quickly.
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they → express → them
Both Orr and Jukes will be missed profoundly by those inside the party.
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Orr → miss → party
Privately, some wonder if Orr may yet return.
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Orr → wonder → ?
Jukes, who has been a pivotal and loyal figure in Team Farage for years, was already dividing his time between the UK and the United States as his wife and baby are on the other side of the Atlantic.
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wife → divide → Atlantic
Perhaps, some senior figures suggest, his immediate future might be in America.
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future → suggest → America
Does he return when the general election is nearer?
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election → return → ?
Let's see.
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's → let → ?
Reform leave Birmingham winded and wounded by the last few days, their days in the sun overshadowed.
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days → leave → sun
The question is how they deal with this and respond to it, in the coming weeks and months.
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they → deal → weeks
The Aporia
