Reform can fix Britain. First it needs to prove it can be trusted

Peter Cardwell is a presenter on the Talk radio and TV network and a former Conservative special adviser Dramatically posting his draft resignation letter online, pledging to quit as Chancellor “no ifs, no buts” if his radical pledges aren’t delivered, Robert Jenrick has attempted to shift the narrative around the Reform UK conference in Birmingham from the scandal of recent days. A plan – fully costed, he insists – to raise the tax-free personal allowance threshold to £15,000, paid for by slashing welfare, quangos and the civil service, is significant. The Jenrick plan would take nearly three million people out of income tax completely, at a cost of £21bn a year within five years. He gave a dramatic, well-delivered, well-timed, well-received speech and was believable in his conviction to turn the economy around. He has the credibility some in Reform UK lack, especially in light of the recent Channel 4 News investigation. In other circumstances, the Jenrick promises could be a political game changer for Reform UK. With the cost of debt at a 30-year high, growth low and unemployment high, the public is very open to new economic ideas to get the country – and the workforce – moving. Jenrick also took aim at his opposite number in Labour, John Healey, arguing the Chancellor has betrayed his principles over defence spending. This is an area about which we’ll hear much more from Reform UK, although even they admit they need to appoint a dedicated defence spokesman/woman. Similarly, Farage’s on stage signing of a pledge to repatriate to France every illegal migrant who comes across the channel in a small boat, scribbling his signature in tandem with Jordan Bardella, was pure Reform theatre. But it also might just work. The National Rally chairman could end up as the new French prime minister, or even president. A sceptical public may actually listen to their collective plan, especially as Prime Minister Andy Burnham flim-flams about “relentless” action as 230 migrants arrive on a boat that is anything but small. Delegates walk through the main hall during day two (Photo: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images) For Reform, languishing in the low 20s in the polls, the golden era of last summer when no one had heard of Christopher Harborne and his £5m must seem like aeons ago. Verbatim’s undercover journalists were many months from revealing themselves. Now, Reform UK is having a crisis, partially self-inflicted and partially as a result of circumstance. The Burnham bounce has emboldened a new Prime Minister contemplating an election. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch is gaining traction with her no-nonsense attitude. Restore Britain is stealing Reform UK’s thunder to its right. But in Birmingham, they dug in. Guest after guest from the NEC on my Talk radio and TV network shows have been bullish, defiant and – yes – joyful at Reform UK’s approach. Caller after caller has backed Farage and said they don’t care about what Channel 4 News reveals. Others simply blame the media, with dismissive talk of witch-hunts and hoaxes. Jenrick told me on air Reform’s internal investigation is under way, though admitted no one has yet been appointed to run it. Dan Jukes and James Orr, the two senior Reform UK advisers stung in the Channel 4 investigation, are gone, Lee Anderson, the party chairman, telling Talk on Friday: “We’ve had a good clear out this morning.” The net result of the public interest journalism from Channel 4 News may be police action, perhaps even criminal convictions. But what the investigation and the damning footage presents, more broadly, is a challenge for Reform UK to professionalise, stay on the right side of laws and regulations – as Farage insists they do – and deal with the inevitable criticism, which is only going to get more intense as an election approaches. A Farage heckler on Friday did the same thing last year. She was not banned then. Her details were still on Reform UK’s system and, remarkably, she says she was even asked to stand as a councillor for the party as they sought candidates for May’s council elections. That is not an example of a political party with an efficient backroom operation. Caption: A security officer removes a Greenpeace protest banner (Photo: REUTERS/Isabel Infantes) Part of the reason Starmer’s Labour got elected was not because they were loved, but because they appeared to many to be sensible people who would run the country properly without chaos and calamity. It didn’t happen, of course. Reform has some popular policies and people, but following these donation scandals, they don’t look like sensible people the electorate craves to run an efficient and ethical government. Reform UK needs to shape up. Its political ideas are eye-catching, it has good performers in Jenrick, Farage and others and it can cut through at times. Those in Birmingham are convinced. The wider British public is not. When the on-stage fireworks machines cool down and the chairs are packed up, the stench of sleaze from a party which said it would do things differently needs to dissipate and a slicker, more ethical operation with greater credibility as a potential government must emerge. Peter Cardwell is a presenter on Talk, a former Conservative special adviser and author Political Animals, now out in paperback