For a party in the throes of professionalisation, you still don’t have to look far at Reform UK’s conference for evidence of the unexpected.
Exhibit A – The Lincolnshire mayor on stage singing a song she wrote about insomnia in a sparkly blue jumpsuit.
Exhibit B – One of the party’s MPs being accused of leaking details about a former colleague’s terminally ill dog.
All of that aside, this is still – by a country mile – the slickest any Farage-led outfit has ever looked.
They are of course helped on this occasion by the latest bout of havoc afflicting the government.
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Ever the canny media operator, Nigel Farage brought his speech forward to capitalise on this chaos.
Rules over balance mean broadcasters are bound to air leader’s speeches.
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Nigel Farage kicked off the Reform UK party conference with jibes about Angela Rayner’s resignation and the Labour Party.
So here was the Reform leader – as is his way – inserting himself into the centre of the story in a way that his Tory rival Kemi Badenoch seems unable, or perhaps unwilling, to do.
And Mr Farage couldn’t have wished for a better scandal to seize on.
“A government that despite all the promises that this would be a new, different kind of politics is as bad, if not worse, than the one that went before”, he declared.
This is the ‘two cheeks of the same backside’ strategy in action.
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Sky’s Political Correspondent says Nigel Farage wants Reform to appear ready to govern but there is still a long way to go.
But beyond the customised football shirts and branded wallets, is this a party genuinely evolving from rag-tag rabble rousers to a possible government in waiting?
Whisper it round this conference, but Reform hasn’t had the smoothest of runs in their newly expanded state.
Yes, they’ve gained an MP through a by-election, but they’ve also lost two through infighting and scandal.
Then there’s party bigwig Zia Yusuf walking out the fold, before changing his mind and walking back in a day later.
On policy, too, sources point to the broader range of issues being discussed this year, but there are still large question marks hanging over some of the party’s big proposals.
For a start, they may be eye-catching, but are the asylum plans really workable?
Likewise, after running on a platform last year around big tax cuts, the party will need to work hard to avoid accusations they are Liz Truss round two.
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What’s the mood at the Reform conference in Birmingham?
Then on people, there may be potential for the future, but as it stands this is still pretty much a case of Farage and friends.
Their latest arrival, Nadine Dorries, is being hailed as bringing that much-needed government experience.
Though that way danger might still lie, if these insurgents start to look too much like the broken politics of the past they are claiming to overhaul.
So, a more polished set of players, yes – but these are still tactics that have been deployed by Nigel Farage for decades.
But in all honesty, that’s probably why it all seems to be working so well.
