Nigel Farage’s major donor and head of the party machine launched UK Doge – styled on Elon Musk’s government efficiency body – last Monday; denounced Kent County Council’s spending on Tuesday; got into a row on Wednesday; quit as Party Chairman on Thursday; was dismissed as a “control freak” by fellow Doge member Arron Banks on Friday; then was welcomed back to the fold on Saturday. Presumably, as the song format requires, he chilled on Sunday.
Certainly Farage is back on his relentless campaign trail, speaking in Cardiff yesterday at the launch of Reform’s push for next year’s Welsh Parliament elections.
Yusuf has been important to the development of Reform, and was their largest donor for the 2024 general election campaign, but he doesn’t have the public profile or name recognition enjoyed by Musk, nor the personal following. And even now, his and Farage’s relationship is better than that between Trump and his former “First Buddy”.
Internal dramas with Yusuf – or previously with Rupert Lowe, the MP from whom Reform removed the whip in March – generate media gossip but still haven’t prevented their rise in the polls, nor their strong showing in recent by-elections. Farage is still in charge, things are going well for them, and that combination of certainty and optimism is attracting new donors.
This is one reason why the other parties continue to search for ways to land a glove on Farage himself. That hunt has been largely fruitless over the years, both because he is a very experienced politician who has been scrutinised this way for decades, and because he has always claimed to be authentic rather than perfect.
Students of Ukip’s history will be aware that rifts were part of its culture. Someone I know who spent some years working for that party used to joke that they should install blood-coloured carpets in their HQ to save on cleaning bills, given the regularity of factional in-fighting.
square KITTY DONALDSON Reform 'wildfires' can be put out by Labour - for now
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Their one reliable motto through those lean years was simple: “NAW: Nigel Always Wins”. And so he did – outmanoeuvring his rivals with the rulebook and the backing of the grassroots, until he was big enough simply to leave and launch his own party. He did so to escape the encumbrance of those he once described as “total amateurs who come to London once a month with sandwiches in their rucksacks, to attend NEC meetings that normally last seven hours”.
This is why spats like that with Yusuf matter. Not because the relationship is too valuable, not because Yusuf is too popular, and not because they need his money – but because the drama doesn’t fit with what they need to do to take their party to the next level.
Those potential candidates are watching on closely – they are tempted by the possible opportunity, but they are also wondering if this is worth giving up their time, disrupting their careers and businesses, and risking their reputations for.
Interpersonal drama, like last week’s Yusuf row, is a source of worry for them. Perhaps that’s why, for the first time ever, Farage has forgiven the sinner and welcomed him back to the fold, rather than purging him like so many before.
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