Why it’s party over for Reform after latest saga – unless Nigel Farage can get a grip

NIGEL Farage came pretty close to throwing in the towel this summer. Seething about his family getting dragged into politics and shaken by threats and a torrent of abuse, he mooted packing it all in and going fishing. Nigel Farage was hoping this weekend’s Reform UK party conference would be an opportunity to reset Credit: Shutterstock Editorial A summer of squabbles and wobbles have left Reform UK battling to rediscover themselves The brutal murder of his colleague Ann Widdecombe could have rightly broken even the bravest of leaders, and it almost did after what I understand were tense talks with those closest to him. Friends talk darkly about chilling information soon to enter the public domain that will shock even the Reform leader’s most ardent haters. Sign up for The Sun newsletter Thank you! A chink of light at his inner thoughts was clear in some interviews where he couldn’t quite bring himself to say he actually wanted to be the PM. But whether it was his sense of duty or ambition — or frankly just a love of the game — he hit the stump in Clacton instead and vowed to keep buggering on. This weekend’s party conference was supposed to be the reset moment, where after the Starmer-destroying highs of 2025, Reform could put a summer of squabbles and wobbles behind them and actually focus on the policy. In nearly 20 years of covering the man, Birmingham’s jamboree was on course to be the most professional gathering of his true believers that I had ever seen. Corporate Britain was out in force, as were the big global firms, noses pressed against the glass, desperate to read the runes of a Reform government. What would have been considered crackers just 18 months ago remains a moonshot chance: Nigel Farage, PM. Most read in The Sun Reform UK’s policy announcements were overshadowed by the latest scandal to engulf the party Credit: Reuters PM Andy Burnham could soon seize the moment to strike and call a General Election Credit: Getty Though with exhibitors and power suits aplenty, like so many Farage-adjacent events there was still always a sense of the absurd. Anyone lucky enough to remember the manic days of Ukip knows that more often or not, their events descended into carnivals of chaos. So despite the veneer of professionalism, slick carpet and shiny signs, there remained a whiff of carnage — an unshakeable feeling things could go t*ts up at any moment. There are more pyrotechnics on the stage these days, but it was always the fireworks elsewhere that caused the real scenes. And so it came to pass. Once chastised by chin-stroking pundits for being too loyal to allies he should have cut loose, the axe swung at two in the morning. After initially branding Channel 4’s Thursday night exposé a “hoax”, it became clear in the small hours that the damage could be mortal after a long summer of sleaze stories. Long-term aide and part-time honorary son Dan Jukes was jettisoned after walking straight into a trap sprung by climate change activists posing as deep-pocketed foreign donors looking to bend the donation rules. One too many negronis seems to have put paid to the political career of policy chief James Orr, who was seen slurring his way out of a job by promising a fake millionaire the world. Now Reform can rage about it all being a globalist plot, and a co-ordinated deep-state stitch-up, a sophisticated attempt to bury them by their terrified establishment enemies. And they probably have a point to some degree — the gloves are certainly off. But they should know by now that this torrent was coming, and in asking to not just lead the country, but blow up half a century of political consensus, that it was part of the package. They have been warned enough times by supporters and critical friends that the scrutiny was coming, whether it feels fair or not when the heat is on. Though you might not know it from the airwaves, there was some serious meat from Reform yesterday. A potential referendum on the House of Lords, ripping up how the judiciary is appointed and remarkable accord with the man likely to be France’s next PM that would see the French finally accept the return of small boat crossers. But yet again all blown out of the water by entirely avoidable scandal. This latest saga must be a reckoning for Reform — get a grip or give over to their claim to be the dominant force on the Right. Despite the love in the hall, Farage felt the need to spell out to his adoring fans: “I am determined to lead Reform at the next election.” And his problem is he may well get that wish sooner rather than later. The odds of an early General Election have shortened dramatically in the last 48 hours. With Reform beset by fresh chaos, a new wave of investigations and another bout of dire headlines about money, Andy Burnham may soon be laughing all the way to the Palace. After Keir Starmer’s steaming leaving present on No10’s doorstep, if Labour can see off Wacko Zacko Polanski in the upcoming Holborn and St Pancras by-election, the case to go to the country will become irresistible. The Left semi united, the Right deeply riven with a visceral loathing and mutual suspicion. Worst-case scenario for Burnham, dopey Ed Davey has made clear with his slobbering all over the new PM that he’s open to doing business. And that really would be a disaster for a country in desperate need of actual reform. The future of the Chagos Islands is set to come under the spotlight later this month Credit: AP ED MILIBAND has been very tight-lipped about Chagos since taking over at the Foreign Office. But that’s unlikely to survive the first big contact between the new government and Donald Trump later this month at the United Nations in New York. The botched plan to pay Mauritius to take over our overseas territory in the Indian Ocean was dead in the water after the Americans scotched it over fears they would lose access to a vital airbase. But now fresh efforts by the Foreign Office to resurrect the surrender deal have left Washington baffled. Not least because at a time when Britain is in uproar over threats to the Falkland Islands – even while asking the Americans to slap down new Argie sabre-rattling – our government seems so willing to give up other territory willy nilly. My mole says things are set to come to a head again when the new PM heads Stateside in a few weeks’ time. Comment now