Our Board Director James Hinchcliffe and Senior Account Director Matt Bacon attended the Reform UK Party Conference. These are their reflections on a busy two days:
Raucous activist interviews by Jeremy Kyle, early-noughties Ibiza classics booming from speakers between fringe events, and football shirts ready-to-wear for politics’ newest team looking to go all the way to Number 10.
It could only be the Reform UK Conference 2025, which set out to re-imagine how to engage a fervent membership and put the Party on a national stage to the public, press, and business community. The atmosphere felt less like a conventional party gathering and more like a team unveiling complete with the sense of a club on the rise, drawing new fans and hinting at promotion to the top flight.
Beyond the razzmatazz and national slogans, though, there was much to be learned about how Reform UK are evolving. With four MPs in Parliament, including party leader Nigel Farage, and councillor numbers surging from 8 to around 900 at the May 2025 elections, the question now is whether they can turn momentum into governance.
National ambition vs. local reality
On day one I found myself in conversation with Nigel Farage about housing. Specifically, how Reform would build more homes to tackle the national crisis. At the national level, the message is bold and uncomplicated: Britain needs to get building. But the real test comes after local elections in 2026 and 2027, when Reform councillors will face the messy reality of permissions, land supply, and community opposition.
The same tension was clear at an Institute for Government fringe on Reform’s local journey. Cllr Linden Kemkaran, Leader of Kent County Council, and former press chief Gawain Towler admitted the party itself hadn’t clocked the scale of its council victories until after polling day. Councillors found themselves thrust into positions of responsibility without the training or structures to support them.
The policy pitch
Deputy Leader Richard Tice, speaking at the Growth Commission fringe, sought to translate frustration into policy. He attacked the planning system as ‘shocking’ in the money it consumes before a shovel hits the ground, questioned the role of statutory consultees, and called for pragmatism on affordable housing: ‘20% of something is better than 50% of nothing.’ He also pushed the case for brownfield development, criticising cities such as London for failing to deliver.
These are themes that resonate well beyond Reform’s ranks. But they highlight the gulf between setting policy markers and navigating the quagmire of the planning system.
Consistent messages, multiplying grassroots
Walking the conference floor, I was struck by the consistency of why people said they were involved. Professional staffers, activists, and councillors all spoke the same language: ‘ordinary people trying to make a difference,’ stepping in because politics had failed their area. Many had never been politically active before.
Meanwhile, Reform is professionalising at the centre. The Heathrow Business Lounge was abuzz with policy specialists talking to the private sector and consultancies, a sign of a party tooling-up for government. And at the grassroots, the branch structure that once powered Labour and Conservative campaigns is re-emerging at speed. One activist from Blackpool claimed 2,000 members locally and showed me the photo to prove an organisation beginning to look like an election machine.
The big question
The feel of the conference was no longer of a protest movement but of a party putting down roots. Yet the question remains: can a movement built on anti-establishment energy, staffed by people new to politics, really govern effectively? Winning elections is one thing. Governing councils is another, not least the challenge of dozens of councillors unfamiliar with the pressures of making difficult decisions.
Like a football club promoted too quickly, Reform’s challenge is whether its squad depth and organisational capacity can match the ambition of its supporters. The next two years will reveal whether this new team has what it takes to compete at the top.
