Pyrotechnics, fireworks, balloons – Reform UK’s conference was unlike any other. Back in September, Nigel Farage’s party used its annual gathering to underscore its message that it offers something different. 

Throughout Birmingham’s NEC, screens flashed up images of the party’s leader. When it was time for Mr Farage’s speech, delegates flocked to hear him speak. As he ascended the stage, a lengthy video montage of his life, set to music, played behind him.

Among the packed crowd of almost 4,000 members, there was the usual crop of grey-haired supporters but sprinkled among them were a surprising number of young, white men.

Since Reform’s leader made a surprise return to frontline politics, he’s leant even harder into anti-establishment rhetoric. The political elite don’t want Nigel Farage to succeed, is his mantra.

The problem Reform UK faces is that it now has five MPs, giving it a presence on the green benches alongside the very establishment it rails against. It’s next job is to try to professionalise the party beyond the cult of Nigel and widen its supporter base.

Farage’s conference speech contained a serious message; it was time for Reform to “grow up” and think about its long-term plan. Looking around the room, it seemed the future of the party might already have arrived.

While most of its supporters are still older white men. According to YouGov’s post-election analysis, Reform was the third most popular party with men aged 50-64 – just one point shy of the Tories.

But there are signs of growing support among younger age groups, including young men aged 18-24, where Reform was the third most popular choice, alongside the Green Party.

For Gen-Z women, it was the least popular option, alongside the Tories. But it was among 16-17-year-olds that the gender gap was the widest.

Surprisingly, Farage’s party was as popular as Labour among young men in that age group, according to a poll by JL Partners in the week of the general election. The contrast with young women in that group is stark – Reform UK lagging far behind Labour and the Green Party.

So, in a party where the median age of an MP is 60, how is it hooking in younger voters?

The popularity of Gen-Z skewing social platforms like TikTok is part of the answer. Reform was quick to engage with a younger audience there – racking up 308,100 followers. That is more than any other major political party, just ahead of Labour on 233,100.

Farage’s personal TikTok now has over a million followers, a fact he announced last week during a press conference in which he said the party’s membership had reached 100,000.

He also gave a breakdown of how old his social media followers seem to be. “We get tens of millions of views every single month. Two thirds of that million are under the age of 35. Half of them are under the age of 25. Something remarkable is happening with Gen-Z,” he said.

And it’s not just TikTok. Reform UK had far and away the highest number of social media page interactions across all platforms during the election, according to analysis by Crowdtangle.

Among its young followers are right-wing political influencers, like Nicholas Lissack.

A smartly dressed student with strong right-wing views, Nick was surprised when his first TikTok video supporting Reform went viral in the run-up to the 2024 general election. In the video, which was watched almost 4 million times in 24 hours, he urged other first-time voters to follow his example and support Reform UK.

A week later, Nick found himself backstage at a pre-election Reform UK rally, meeting his “political hero” – Mr Farage. In another video, he calls their conversation “beautiful” and says they discussed the “ludicrous” price of pints and golf, alongside politics.

He describes his videos as “short, snappy and energetic… I come across like I’m having a fun time”. They’re snappily titled too – a glance over his TikTok page offers two-minute videos with titles like Labour Hates Us, Is Reform UK Fascist? and Ban Notting Hill Carnival. That energy has also translated across X/Twitter, where he now has tens of thousands of followers.

But he admits, not all his peers share his views.

“I lost quite a few friends over this but in that time, I gained 40,000 Twitter followers.”

Since we spoke, he’s gained a further 10,000.

So what about women?

Reform UK was proud of the fact it was able to stand a candidate in nearly every seat.

But, according to the campaign group 50:50 parliament, less than a fifth of its candidates were women. Five white men were chosen for seats the party deemed winnable, leading to Nigel Farage, Richard Tice, Rupert Lowe and James McMurdock being elected to parliament.

Controversially, this year, Nigel Farage told Sky News that the self-proclaimed misogynist influencer Andrew Tate was “an important voice for men”.

Tate is currently banned from YouTube for breaching hate speech rules. He is also banned from Facebook and was described by Meta as a “dangerous individual”. He was also accused of rape, people trafficking and organised crime – though he denies these allegations.

For Nick, being frank about his political opinions has helped his videos reach a wide audience. He attributes his success to men feeling “increasingly disenfranchised” in the wake of “fourth-wave feminism”.

“Reform offers an exciting alternative because it doesn’t discriminate… Young men are drawn to it because they see it as an opportunity to dig their teeth into politics,” he said.

Another new voice in the right-wing political space is George Finch. He enjoyed similar success to Nick over the summer, making videos in support of Mr Farage’s party. Since then, he’s started The New Reformer, an online magazine which he describes as “By Reformers, for Reformers”. Articles have provocative titles like “Project 2029 – dismantling the woke state” and “Since When Is It Divisive to Be British?”.

He thinks the party doesn’t have a problem attracting voters who are women.

“To say that women are put off by Reform is wrong. If it’s something you think is a problem I’m sure HQ are looking at it”.

Will it work?

“There was something about TikTok that worked for Reform,” says Dr Jilly Kay, a senior lecturer in Communication and Media at Loughborough University. “Nigel Farage’s performance and his way of connecting with people worked effectively. We see that in the increased support among young male voters.”

But she also thinks Reform can tap into something more fundamental and give clarity to voters who feel adrift after a period of unstable politics.

“As a young man you’re told you can’t do this, you can’t do that. Farage is trying to give that sense of permission,” Dr Kay explains. “[Reform UK] has that sense of freedom and power which people like Farage claim is being denied to men and boys.”

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But other experts warn that this surge in youthful support could be being overstated.

“Reform undoubtedly has distinct appeal among some sections of young voters: specifically, young men from poorer backgrounds, and who are unlikely to attend university,” says Dr Stuart Fox, a senior lecturer in politics at the University of Exeter.

But according to Dr Fox, Reform UK is far less popular among young voters overall than parties such as the Greens, Liberal Democrats and Labour. He also points out the challenges of engaging the specific youthful demographic most likely to support them.

“Those young people to whom Reform most appeal – young men from poorer backgrounds – are by far the least likely to vote. It will be a real challenge for Reform to capitalise on its appeal to those voters in elections.”

The first signs of whether it can in fact capitalise on this so-called “bro vote” will be at next year’s local elections. It will be a key test for the party and, if it succeeds, its ambitions are high.

Reform UK wants to secure its future and not only challenge the Tories’ status as the leading right-wing group in UK politics but eventually become the governing party in Britain.

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In response Reform UK said: “Reform UK has all the momentum in British politics. This is shown by the surge in support by younger voters.

“We have now surpassed 100,000 members and our polling continues to rise. Young people recognise that the Tories and Labour have failed them and that Britain needs Reform.

“We will harness this momentum as we head into next May and future elections and offer young people real change.”