Nigel Farage, leader of Britain’s right-wing Reform UK party, expressed optimism about his party’s performance after a challenging few days, addressing supporters at a rally just days before the country’s vote on July 4.
Farage, a prominent and controversial figure, has posed a significant challenge to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservative party, as Reform’s growing popularity threatens to split the right-of-centre vote.
A poll on June 27 showed the opposition Labour Party leading with 42%, followed by the Conservatives at 20% and Reform at 16%.
Reform’s standing had dipped from a record high of 19% in mid-June, following Farage’s controversial comments suggesting the West provoked Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Addressing over 4,500 people at the “Rally for Reform” event in Birmingham, Farage, 60, acknowledged the difficulties but remained optimistic.
“We’re doing much better out there than anybody in the media, in politics, even dares to imagine in their worst nightmares. We are doing well,” he told his supporters.
Recent challenges included a racism controversy when a supporter was recorded making a racial slur about Sunak.
Farage responded to Sky News, saying, “Anybody who has a racist point of view I don’t want to know.”
In a separate incident, Liam Booth-Isherwood, a Reform candidate from northern England, disassociated himself from the party, urging voters to support the Conservatives instead.
He cited widespread racism and sexism within the party and the leadership’s failure to address these issues, as reported by the BBC.
Reform’s chairman Richard Tice dismissed the allegations as “false” and questioned if Booth-Isherwood had been offered something to switch sides.
Farage, who played a crucial role in Britain’s 2016 Brexit vote and helped found Reform in 2018, remains focused on controlling migration and cutting taxes for small businesses.
Despite overlaps with Conservative policies, Farage ruled out joining forces with them, stating, “I want nothing to do with them. They’re awful … they are ghastly.”
Running for a parliamentary seat for the eighth time after previous failures, Farage’s Reform is unlikely to secure more than a few seats, given Britain’s first-past-the-post electoral system.