Reform UK, which formed from the remnants of its firebrand leader Nigel Farage's Brexit party, swept over 670 local council seats as well as its first two mayoral posts.
“We can and we will win the next general election“ which is expected in around four years, Farage declared on Friday to newly elected Reform councillors in Staffordshire in the west Midlands.
“This is the best performance by a populist radical right party we’ve ever seen in this country,“ said Tim Bale, politics professor at London’s Queen Mary University.
Like his “friend” Donald Trump, Farage loathes taxes and public spending, and insists he wants “to make Britain great again”.
'Fed up'
Peter Sherliker, a 70-year-old retiree from Runcorn, said he finds Farage “inspiring”.
“We’re all hopeful for some change,“ he told AFP.
The party has since boosted its presence on the ground and transformed itself into an electoral machine.
The party, which claims it has more than 225,000 members, sent the most number of candidates out to local ballots, pointed out Paul Whiteley, political science researcher at the University of Essex.
“We’re fed up with the way we’re being treated. The country’s going downhill,“ rued Gillian Brady in Runcorn, citing high taxes and immigration as well as difficulties accessing the heaving NHS public healthcare system.
It has championed this cause, highlighting, for example, a grooming scandal which first emerged over a decade ago, involving the sexual abuse of primarily white British girls by men of mostly south Asian origin.
Many now consider it “their only option”.
Meanwhile the Conservatives, the standard bearer for the traditional right for 200 years and in power for much of that time, suffered another debacle on Thursday.
Farage has rejected offers of a future alliance with the Conservatives, nicknamed the Tories, declaring that Reform “sank” them.
In a jubilant post-victory speech, Murray called on his fellow councillors to “show our competence, because because that will show the whole country we are serious”.
He has already ousted one of the five MPs elected last year after disagreements.
“There are far more people who don’t like Nigel Farage than there are people who like him.”
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