Reform conference LIVE: Nigel Farage to give huge speech as gathering kicks off
The big jamboree at the NEC in Biringham begins at midday, with speeches from Andrea Jenkyns (12.30pm), Lee Anderson (2pm) and Zia Yusuf (3pm) and a “special guest” (4pm). The main event, Farage’s hour-long speech, kicks off at 4.10pm.
A minister conceded there was “frustration” as the investigation into Angela Rayner’s tax affairs continues and said it would be a “good thing” for the Government if the probe concluded quickly.
Trade minister Douglas Alexander told BBC Breakfast: “The real test is not do these issues arise, but how does the Government deal with them? We have this strengthened, independent office of ministerial standards.
“He’s conducting the inquiry. Once that’s concluded, it will go to the Prime Minister’s desk."
Nigel Farage believes Angela Rayner would be his toughest political rival if she survives a sleaze probe over her tax affairs. The Reform UK leader thinks she appeals to voters on the Left - much in the same way as he does on the Right.
Mr Farage is understood to regard her as “real, down to earth and fun - someone who connects”. If she ever becomes Labour leader, she would become his “toughest” opponent.
Nigel Farage will tell his fledgling party on Friday to prepare for power as soon as 2027 – as he warns the financial markets could foreclose on Labour's spendthrift Government and force an early election.
Mr Farage, whose Reform UK has topped the polls for months, will issue the alert in a speech to his annual conference in Birmingham.
Keir Starmer could suffer a huge blow today because the inquiry into whether she broke ministerial standards rules over her tax affairs is likely to report its verdict today.
If it finds she did break ministerial rules then she will probably have to resign - or the Prime Minister will sack her.
The Prime Minister has said he would “of course” act on the findings of Sir Laurie Magnus’s probe following Ms Rayner’s acknowledgement that she failed to pay a £40,000 tax surcharge on a flat she bought in Hove this year.
Former Reform UK chairman Zia Yusuf has said the party is actively “preparing for government”.
He told BBC Breakfast: “Nigel (Farage) is preparing for government. We are taking seriously the important work of getting ready for government.
“We’re not going to be like Labour, if the British people see fit to elect a Reform government, we will come into power with a plan.”
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has said his appearance before the House Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill this week gave him “no joy”, but stressed “the big message got through”.
At the hearing on Wednesday, the Clacton MP likened Britain to North Korea over the UK’s approach to civil liberties.
He raised the arrest of Irish writer Graham Linehan for comments on social media about transgender people, as well as the jailing of former childminder and wife of a Conservative councillor Lucy Connolly for stirring up racial hatred against asylum seekers in the aftermath of the Southport murders last year.
He denied proposing that Washington threaten the UK with trade sanctions amid scrutiny of his suggestion that the White House use “diplomacy and trade” in the battle for free speech.
Writing in The Daily Telegraph on Friday, Mr Farage described the UK’s Online Safety Act as “using a sledgehammer to miss the nut altogether”.
Former high-profile Conservative Nadine Dorries has defected to Reform UK on the eve of its party conference.
In an interview with the Daily Mail, the ex-culture secretary said “the Tory Party is dead” and called for its members to “look to the future”.
Ms Dorries, 68, is the highest profile Tory to join Reform after defections from former party chairman Sir Jake Berry, former Wales secretary David Jones and Dame Andrea Jenkyns.
She wrote in the newspaper: “The time for action is now and I believe that the only politician who has the answers, the knowledge and the will to deliver is Nigel Farage.”
It comes as Reform UK kicks off it two-day conference on Friday, with speeches by its four MPs as well as former chairman Zia Yusuf.
express.co.uk
