UK Reform leader Farage positive in doing better than predecessor

1/7/2024 5:54

        Nigel Farage, leader of
        Britain's right-wing Reform UK party, said his party was doing
        better than expected after a "tough" few days, as he addressed
        supporters at a rally with days to go before the country votes
        on July 4.
        
        Farage, one of the country's most recognisable and divisive
        politicians, has been a thorn in the side for Prime Minister
        Rishi Sunak's Conservative party as the rise in Reform's
        popularity threatens to split the right-of-centre vote.
        
        A poll on June 27 showed the opposition Labour Party far
        ahead on 42%, trailed by the Conservatives on 20% and Reform on
        16%.
        
        Reform's standing had dropped from a record high of 19% in
        mid-June, following Farage's comments that the West had provoked
        Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.
        
        Farage, 60, told a crowd of more than 4,500 people at the
        "Rally for Reform" event held at the National Exhibition Centre
        in Birmingham that the last few days have been "tough" but he
        was not downhearted.
        
        "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," Farage told his supporters.
        
        The challenges of the last few days have included Reform
        being at the centre of a racism row, when one of its supporters
        was recorded making a racial slur about Sunak.
        
        Farage told Sky News on Sunday: "Anybody who has a racist
        point of view I don't want to know".
        
        A Reform candidate for a constituency in northern England,
        Liam Booth-Isherwood, said separately on Sunday he was disowning
        the party, citing reports of widespread racism and sexism and
        the failure of the party's leadership to address such issues,
        according to a statement on the BBC.
        
        Reuters has approached Reform for comment.
        
        Farage played a pivotal role in Britain's 2016 vote to leave
        the European Union, and then in 2018 helped found the party
        which became known as Reform. Its election pledges are to bring
        migration into Britain under control as well as cutting taxes
        for smaller businesses.
        
        Given the overlap with some Conservative policies, there has
        been speculation in the British media that Farage could seek to
        join forces with that party at some point in the future, but
        speaking to Sky News on Sunday, Farage ruled that out.
        
        "I want nothing to do with them. They're awful ... they are
        ghastly," he said.
        
        Running to become a British lawmaker for the eighth time
        after his previous attempts all failed, Farage's Reform is
        unlikely to take more than a handful of seats even if it wins a
        substantial share of the total vote, due to Britain's
        first-past-the-post electoral system.