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They came in their droves: thousands of Reform supporters poured into a vast hall in a Birmingham conference centre on Sunday to hear Nigel Farage.

His backers brought with them Union Jacks, and brandished Reform placards. There were even one or two red baseball caps emblazoned with the slogan “Make Britain Great Again”, which seemed fitting for an event that felt quite Trumpian in style and tone.

Mr Farage came onto the stage to pounding music, smoke machines, fireworks, and a sea of “it’s time for Reform” placards to a 5,000-strong crowd with a speech that spoke about how Britain was broken and it was time for Reform.

He said his party would be the “leading voice of opposition” as he attacked ‘the establishment’ in all its guises, from the Conservative Party to Labour, the BBC, and Channel 4 to the Governor of the Bank of England.

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While detractors describe Mr Farage’s platform as a type of dog-whistle politics that does little but to stoke grievances and division, there is an audience for him and his policies that politicians in larger parties should ignore at their peril.

When I spoke to many people in the hall afterwards, they were overwhelmingly former Conservative voters disillusioned with their old party.

One woman, who had travelled over from Hull for the rally told me she thought there were a lot of “silent people who may be frightened to say they are voting Reform”.

“I think it’s going to be shock,” she said.

An attendee wearing a Nigel Farage mask ahead of the Reform UK party's rally.
Pic: Reuters
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The crowd in Birmingham. Pic: Reuters

2024 is the election for ‘the other parties’

The rise of the ‘other’ parties is a clear theme of this election campaign as the Liberal Democrats, who won just 11 seats back in 2019, now eye getting back to the levels of seats they enjoyed – in the 1940s or 1950s – before it was wiped out in 2015 on the back of the coalition years.

Nigel Farage’s Reform, meanwhile, is on 16.2% in our Sky News poll tracker, just behind the Tories on 20%.

Earlier this month, the Conservatives fell behind Reform UK for the first time in a national poll, leaving the Tories gripped by panic and in despair.

Mr Farage likes to make the argument that Labour could be heading to a landslide on a lower voter share.

Recent analysis in the Financial Times suggested Labour could win a record 450 seats – about 70% – on just 41% of the votes, lower than the figure Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour achieved in 2017, while the Lib Dems could pick up 50 seats with a lower share of the vote than Reform with just a few seats at best. If it turns out anything like this, prepare for plenty of noise from Mr Farage.

Whether undecided voters or those leaning to Reform stick with them on Thursday is a big unknown of this election. Tories are nervous, knowing that big Reform votes piling up in their constituencies could cost them their seat.

In 2019, the majority of Conservatives did not have a threat from the right, as the Brexit Party stood down candidates with a Brexit-backing Conservative candidate. They stood but 275 or 632 seats.

This time around, Reform is everywhere and no one feels safe: one poll put James Cleverly’s Braintree constituency, supposedly the 19th safest Conservative seat, on a knife edge as Reform clocks up an estimated 22% vote share in his Essex constituency.

Reform UK Party Leader Nigel Farage delivers a speech during a rally at the NEC in Birmingham
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Pic: Reuters

Tories in all-out war

The Conservatives, who began this campaign trying not to get into a fight with Mr Farage (perhaps for fear of further alienating their traditional voters) are now at all-out war as they try to salvage as many seats as they can.

On Sunday the party said if “just 130,000 voters currently considering a vote for Reform or the Lib Dems voted Conservative, it would be enough to stop Labour’s supermajority”.

The prime minister, meanwhile, has become increasingly vocal in his criticisms of Reform and Mr Farage as the party looks for a way to pull voters back.

Mr Sunak has been vocal in his criticism of Mr Farage as a “Putin appeaser” after the Reform leader suggested Ukraine enter peace talks – something which Ukraine has emphatically ruled out unless Russia retreats from its territory.

The prime minister also spoke of his “anger and hurt” over revelations – contested by Reform – in a Channel 4 undercover report of a Reform canvasser calling Mr Sunak a “f****** P***”.

This, combined with a Reform organiser making homophobic remarks and candidates being suspended for racist, antisemitic and sexist views has caused difficulties for Mr Farage in recent days.

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Sunak ‘hurt’ over Reform race row

Tensions around Farage starting to show

In our interview in Birmingham on Sunday, some of those tensions were beginning to show.

For a start, the politician who had appeared with right-wing Tories such as potential future leader Dame Priti Patel at the Conservative Party conference last October, and openly toyed about returning to the fold, now ruled out any sort of tie-up.

Having spoken but a month ago about a reverse takeover of the Tories and refusing to rule out one day rejoining the party, on Sunday he was clear he would not rejoin, and wanted nothing to do with the Conservatives.

Nigel Farage.
Pic: Reuters
Image:
Pic: Reuters

It comes after a clutch of senior figures, including Dame Priti, indicated that Mr Farage would now not be welcomed back into the party in the wake of the backlash over his claim the West provoked Russia to invade Ukraine and the racism row engulfing Reform.

He equally was more equivocal than he had been about Andrew Tate in the past, making it clear to me that he “disavowed’ him, and was also highly critical of Reform events organiser George James who made homophobic remarks, saying he was “furious” when he saw the footage (also in the Channel 4 report) of Mr James describing the Pride flag as “degenerate” and criticising the police for displaying the flag.

“They should be out catching the n***** not promoting the f******”,” he said in the report.

Mr Farage said Mr James was “crass, drunken, rude and wrong” and told me he had been asked to remove his membership. But he also said he was “down a few drinks” explaining: “We could all say silly things when we’re a bit drunk.”

When I asked him if people really say things like this when they are drunk, Mr Farage said: “People say all sorts of things when they’re drunk and often don’t remember. But it was awful.”

So awful that one Reform candidate announced on Sunday evening they were standing down and would instead back their local Conservative in the constituency of Erewash.

The question for Reform is whether their potential voters, looking at some of the controversy surrounding the party, decide it’s not for them after all.

What is absolutely clear is Reform’s performance will help determine that of the Conservatives on Thursday night as the election results come in.

If he’s successful, Mr Farage will be heading for parliament, not only giving him a bigger national platform but a democratic mandate. That spells trouble for a Conservative party already in turmoil.

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Ex-Reform MP Rupert Lowe alerts coastguard to ‘migrants’ – who were a charity rowing team

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Ex-Reform MP Rupert Lowe alerts coastguard to 'migrants' - who were a charity rowing team

MP Rupert Lowe alerted the coastguard to potential migrants on a boat – who turned out to be a charity rowing crew.

The independent Great Yarmouth MP posted a picture on social media on Thursday night of a boat near some wind turbines off the Norfolk Coast, saying he had alerted the authorities.

He wrote dinghies were coming into Great Yarmouth, “RIGHT NOW”.

“If these are illegal migrants, I will be using every tool at my disposal to ensure those individuals are deported,” he added.

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But the “dinghy” was actually an ocean rowing boat crewed by ROW4MND, a team of four attempting to row from Land’s End to John O’Groats for motor neurone disease research.

Rupert Lowe MP. Pic: PA
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Rupert Lowe MP. Pic: PA

Mr Lowe, who was suspended from Reform UK in March, posted on Friday morning that it was a “false alarm” and was a boat of charity rowers, “thank goodness”.

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He said he would donate £1,000 to their charity “as a well done” – but warned people to “watch out for any real illegal migrants”.

“We received a huge number of urgent complaints from constituents – I make no apologies over being vigilant for my constituents. It is a national crisis,” he wrote.

“No mass deportations for the charity rowers, but we definitely need it for the illegal migrants!”

The ROW4MND crew were passing Great Yarmouth on their way to John O'Groats. Pic: PA
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The ROW4MND crew were passing Great Yarmouth on their way to John O’Groats. Pic: PA

Police wanted to send a boat to check

It is the first of four gruelling rows the crew will take over four years in an attempt to raise £57m for motor neurone disease research, inspired by the deaths of rugby players Rob Burrow and Doddie Weir from the condition.

Matthew Parker, Mike Bates, Aaron Kneebone and Liz Wardley said the coastguard initially contacted them and asked if they could see a dinghy nearby.

Ex-Royal Marine Mr Bates, a British record holder for rowing across the Atlantic solo, said it soon became clear the coastguard was asking about their boat.

“I looked to my right and there was maybe a dozen individuals stood on the shoreline staring at us,” he told the PA news agency.

After the coastguard accepted they were not carrying migrants, they rowed on through the night but hours later were contacted again by the coastguard because the police had “asked if they could send a lifeboat out to check who we were”.

The crew leaving Newlyn Harbour in Cornwall last week after starting their challenge again. Pic: PA
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The crew leaving Newlyn Harbour in Cornwall last week after starting their challenge again. Pic: PA

‘I’ve not been mistaken for a migrant before’

A friend then forwarded Mr Lowe’s post, which Mr Bates said was “a moment of light relief”.

“We found it hilarious. I’ve not been mistaken for a migrant before,” he said.

“The best comment was the one asking where the Royal Navy were when you need them. I’m a former Royal Marine, so the Royal Navy were on the boat.

“But it was almost like a vigilante-style, people following us down the beach.

“They hadn’t twigged that we were parallel to the shore for hours and not trying to land.”

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Gruelling four-year challenge

The crew set off from Land’s End on 25 July, heading north, but bad weather forced them to stop, and they decided to return to Land’s End and start again, heading anticlockwise around the UK.

Next year, the team is hoping to row from John O’Groats to Land’s End, then from California to Hawaii in 2027 and New York to London in 2028.

Mr Bates said: “We’re rowing for hope, we’re rowing to find a cure, and hopefully we’ll raise £57m – we certainly will if MPs keep talking about us. Maybe Rupert will give us a donation.”

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Roman Storm conviction for Tornado Cash sets ‘dangerous precedent’

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Roman Storm conviction for Tornado Cash sets ‘dangerous precedent’

Roman Storm conviction for Tornado Cash sets ‘dangerous precedent’

Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm’s conviction misapplies money transmitter laws, crypto industry group says.

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China cracks down on stablecoin promotions, research and seminars

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China cracks down on stablecoin promotions, research and seminars

China cracks down on stablecoin promotions, research and seminars

Chinese regulators ordered local firms to halt seminars and research on stablecoins, citing concerns over potential fraud and herd-driven speculation.

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