In Pictures: Reform campaign sees Nigel Farage in his element despite criticisms
PA Reporters
·3-min read
With pints and placards, a flying milkshake, “bad apples” on the ballot paper, and constant reminders his party is merely “a start-up” and has room to grow, it’s been an eventful General Election campaign for Nigel Farage and Reform UK.
On May 22, when the election was called, the veteran politician was honorary party president and had ruled himself out of a Commons attempt, but by June 3 he had been declared leader of Reform and announced he would stand as a candidate in Clacton.
Mr Farage and party chairman Richard Tice had to deal with allegations of racism among some of their candidates and canvassers, but their “contract with the people” rather a traditional manifesto was welcomed by supporters around the country, culminating in a Trump-style rally in Birmingham watched by 5,000.
Nigel Farage’s candidacy in Clapton was dampened within a day when a banana milkshake was thrown over him as he left the Moon and Starfish pub after launching his General Election campaign on June 4 (James Manning/PA)
A few hours later, he shared in the joke by toasting with a McDonald’s milkshake during a visit to Jaywick in Essex (James Manning/PA)
There was a second incident when an object was thrown at Mr Farage when he was on top of his campaign bus in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, on June 11 ( Danny Lawson/PA)
Richard Tice started the campaign as Reform leader, but gave up the role to become party chairman and support Nigel Farage’s return (James Manning/PA)
Reform’s Our Contract With You was launched in a hall in Merthyr Tydfil on June 17 (Ben Birchall/PA)
The Reform campaign had some influential backers including property developer Nick Candy and his wife, the former actress and pop star Holly Valance, who at one stage was tipped as a potential candidate for the party herself (Yui Mok/PA)
Mr Farage met customers at a cafe in Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, on June 11, where Lee Anderson, the former Tory and Independent MP, was standing as Reform candidate (Dominic Lipinski/PA)
Fans flocked to Mr Farage for selfies during his campaign visits (Dominic Lipinski/PA)
Signing posters after speaking at Princes Theatre in Clacton on June 18 (Ian West/PA)
However, not everyone greeted the Reform UK leader warmly, with one speech from the top of his campaign bus in Yorkshire greeted by posters and placards saying immigrants were welcome (Danny Lawson/PA)
Mr Farage’s shadow falls across the backdrop to a speech in Blackpool on June 20 (Tim Markland/PA)
Locked and loaded and aiming for a Commons seat after seven failed attempts, Mr Farage took part in clay pigeon shooting during a visit to Catton Hall in Frodsham, Cheshire, on June 20… (Dominic Lipinski/PA)
… but also tested his luck by playing a 2p machine in a Clacton-on-Sea arcade (Joe Giddens/PA)
While Rishi Sunak had a D-Day commemoration to forget after being criticised for returning to the UK early on the 80th anniversary of the landings, Mr Farage was on Gold Beach in Arromanches in Normandy driving a vintage jeep as dawn broke on June 6 (Aaron Chown/PA)
The audience for one of the campaign speeches, seen through the window of the Reform UK campaign bus in Maidstone, Kent on June 24 (Jordan Pettitt/PA)
British politics has hardly covered itself in glory in recent years. After the shame of the Corbyn years was punctured by the glorious Tory victory of 2019, we were subjected to a veritable gallery of disgrace: soaring immigration, Covid authoritarianism, Partygate, the Truss-Kwarteng interregnum, Gaza fanaticism. But the true nadir was the election of George Galloway in Rochdale.
Eamonn Holmes made a savage dig at new prime minister Keir Starmer this morning as he announced the results of the General Election on GB News. The former This Morning star, 64, branded the Labour leader "deadly dull" as he fronted his Vo
Boris Johnson says Nigel Farage played a "significant" role in the "destruction" of the Tories – while taking a swipe at those who ousted him from Number 10 back in 2022. Reform UK have secured five seats in the House of Commons including one for its leader Mr Farage, who succeeded in being elected in Clacton, Essex. Former prime minister Mr Johnson has dissected his party's performance in his Daily Mail column, saying the reasons why the Tories lost so many MPs were "complex" - but "the Yucatan asteroid in this catastrophe was obvious: it was Reform".
Who’s to blame? All of us – every Conservative MP in the last Parliament – has a share of the blame for this defeat. For my part, I made life harder for my Party by calling publicly for tougher policy on migration and defence, and so made negative headlines about Tory splits and factions.
The party has published what it plans to do in its manifesto, and it has a number of promises on the benefits system including Universal Credit and PIP
Migrants in northern France celebrating Labour’s landslide victory have given Sir Keir Starmer a nickname and have vowed to cross the Channel at the “first chance” they get.
As one big Tory beast after another faced The Hunger Games on election night, one notably escaped the carnage. Sir Iain Duncan Smith, the former Conservative leader, stood tall on the podium with the former and current Labour candidates whose vicious infighting had done him such a big favour.
The most significant result from Thursday may not have been the wipe-out of the Conservative Party. It might not have been the rise of Reform UK either, or the strain put on our first past the post electoral system by two distinct blocs of Right-wing voters. Instead, it could turn out to be the return of sectarian politics to England.
Along Birmingham’s busy main roads the day after the general election, Palestinian flags flutter from lamp-posts as traffic roars past. A sign near a major roundabout reads: “Vote for genocide. Vote Labour.”
Former Home Secretary Suella Braverman comments on the Tories' "really bad result" in the election and warns of "big problems" being caused by Keir Starmer on the horizon, including scrapping of the Rwanda scheme. Ms Braverman refused to comment on suggestions that she would run for leader.
Few things in British politics seem familiar this morning. So it’s a welcome feature of this election that the pollsters have seemingly, once again, got it wrong. They overestimated the Lib Dems in 2010. They failed to spot a Tory majority in 2015. They largely didn’t foresee Brexit or Theresa May losing her majority. Now add to that list the apparent overestimation of Labour’s lead.
COMMENT : In his touching goodbye speech on the steps of No 10, we saw a side to the (now) former prime minister we’ve rarely seen before – a distinctly human one