4 min read7 min

In an interview with PoliticsHome on the eve of the Reform conference in Birmingham, which started on Thursday, Kemkaran said that people who want a right-wing government will eventually realise that a vote for Restore Britain makes that outcome less likely.

Reform figures were initially dismissive about the threat posed by Rupert Lowe’s hard-right party. However, in recent months, there have been clear signs of Restore Britain hurting Farage by taking votes that otherwise probably would have gone to Reform.

For example, last Thursday, Green candidate Ingrid Dodd secured a surprise victory in a district by-election in Dover, thanks largely to the right-wing vote splitting three ways between Reform, Restore Britain, and the Conservatives. Reform finished second, just 34 votes behind.

At the Markefield by-election in June, Restore Britain got around 7 per cent of the vote. In the end, the scale of Andy Burnham’s victory rendered the combined right-wing vote academic. However, it was further evidence that Lowe’s party is capable of attracting significant levels of support, and prompted Farage to urge Restore Britain supporters to “think again”.

Kemkaran said the Dover result would end up being “very useful” for Reform, and “a very good case in point about what happens when you vote for a protest party, and you don’t vote for the party that’s actually going to do what you want them to do in that area”.

“It was a stark illustration of what happens if you take your eye off the ball and you stop realising that, actually, Reform is the only centre-right party that is in a position to form a centre-right government at this point in time,” she said.

“Restore can’t do it,” she added.

“Some people allowed themselves to be enticed to an alternative reality that they thought might be possible for whatever the things that Restore is promising.”

However, the council leader stressed: “You can never blame the electorate. You’ve always got to look internally as to what you might do differently next time.”

In an interview with The House magazine in the weeks leading up to Reform conference, party chairman Lee Anderson dismissed the threat of Restore Britain and insisted that “decent” people who had moved away from Reform to support Lowe’s party would come back once they realise that they risk making a Labour government more likely.

“Restore Britain just want to stop us from winning. It’s as simple as that,” Anderson said.

He also accused Restore Britain activists of “bullying” Reform campaigners at the recent Makerfield by-election, a claim which a Restore Britain spokesperson said was “nonsense”.

Reflecting on the 18 months she has been council leader in Kent, Kemkaran said she has realised “how difficult it can be to make things happen”.

She became leader having not previously served as a councillor, tasked with leading perhaps the most high-profile local authority won by Farage’s party. Kent was where Reform first piloted its programme of cutting what it describes as wasteful council spending, inspired by Elon Musk’s short-lived Department of Government Efficiency in the US, and Kemkaran has since set up her own version: Department of Local Government Efficiency. Reform’s bid to cut council spending has had to grapple with the financial pressures facing local government.

“I have made things happen,” the Kent leader told PoliticsHome, “but I’m unusually strong-minded and unusually tenacious in getting a grip of an issue very quickly and not being put off when people throw little obstacles in the way.”

Every Monday, Kemkaran joins a meeting with the party’s deputy leader Richard Tice and other Reform council leaders across the country. “It’s an incredibly useful time for us to be able to receive information, to share information, to alert each other to things we might need to be aware of. It’s a really it’s a good way to start the week,” she said.

On the national picture, Kemkaran insisted that Reform can regain momentum after a difficult few months, telling PoliticsHome that the “Burnham bounce” in the opinion polls is actually a “Burnham bubble” that she predicted will “pop any day now”.

“Once our manifesto is written, it’s going to be a huge selling point for the party. It’s going to convince an awful lot of people who are maybe Reform curious… because they’re going to see that we are the right party to fix the horrendous mess this country’s in.

“The other three magic ingredients are timing, luck, and judgment. If we can get those five to coalesce, that’s what we need to happen,” she said.

Kemkaran’s interview with PoliticsHome took place before an undercover investigation aired by Channel 4 on Thursday alleged that senior Reform officials arranged party donations that breached UK electoral rules.

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Nigel Farage at the Reform party’s annual conference in Birmingham, September 2026 (AP Photo/Thomas Krych)

2 min read20 min

The Reform leader used his keynote speech at Reform UK’s conference in Birmingham to address sceptics who doubt his party’s ability to deliver on its manifesto after a hypothetical general election win.

He declared that he would be prepared to appoint enough peers to the Lords that Reform would have a majority in the Upper Chamber, or hold a referendum on its composition, if the peers tried to block his party’s legislation.

“We will declare a national emergency. All recess of parliament will be cancelled. Parliament will sit, if necessary, for 24 hours a day, for six days a week, until we pass the necessary legislation,” Farage said.

Reform policies – including stopping the arrival of small boats to the UK, reducing university attendance and cutting taxes on workers and pensioners – would be “explicit”, he added.

“I expect the House of Lords to honour that, as they’ve done with the Salisbury Convention for over a century. But if they don’t, well, we’ll present them with an idea. It’s not a new one – it’s been used before.

“We’ll appoint hundreds of new peers so that we have a majority in the House of Lords. And if that proves difficult, we’ll hold a referendum on the current composition of the House of Lords and they would be swept away by the British public, appalled by them.”

He promised to “remove the ability of judges to lean on outdated conventions” to block policies and warned the Civil Service: “If they try to obstruct us, they’ll be removed from their posts and replaced with people from outside, from the world of business.”

Farage’s speech on Friday also addressed the allegations broadcast by Channel 4 that his party breached political donation rules, which led to two of Nigel Farage’s closest allies stepping down this morning pending an internal investigation.

“Reform has broken no law. We take compliance extremely seriously. And ask yourself, why is all of this happening? Anyone got a clue why it’s happening? Because they’re scared of us. That’s why it’s happening,” Farage told Reform conference.

The speech was delayed over security concerns, with Farage telling the BBC the police would not allow him onto the conference stage due to a threat, and the address was interrupted by several protesters who were removed from the hall.

Nigel Farage (Alamy)

3 min read6 min

On Thursday, Verbatim and Channel 4 aired an investigation appearing to show senior officials James Orr and Dan Jukes arranging for polls commissioned by the party to be paid with money from an American company.

Over the course of a year, Verbatim used an undercover reporter to investigate whether Reform UK was using foreign donations to fund the party’s activities. The reporter posed as the British-born son of a wealthy American businessman who was looking to give money to Farage’s party. 

The donations totalled more than £32,000. Under UK electoral law, foreign companies are not permitted to fund party activities.

Reform UK is currently holding its annual conference in Birmingham, where the party had hoped to regain some of the momentum lost over the past year. Farage is currently under investigation over an undeclared £5m gift he received before becoming an MP.

In the investigation, footage filmed across several meetings appears to show the undercover reporter discussing and agreeing the funding with both Orr and Jukes.

While Orr originally claimed that Farage would not be involved, a meeting with the party leader and the undercover reporter in Clacton this summer appeared to show the leader was aware of the transactions, apparently calling the deal “bang for buck”.

On Thursday evening, a spokesperson for Reform UK said the party had been the target of a “hoax” and denied any wrongdoing.

On Friday morning, Reform UK issued another statement, saying that the party had launched an investigation following the broadcast, and Orr and Jukes had “stepped down” from their positions. 

Reform MP and chairman Lee Anderson has said the party has been advised by a KC that it did not break the law.

But he also told Sky News on Friday morning that there was “no chance” of Orr and Jukes returning to their positions. This was later contradicted by deputy leader Richard Tice who said the possibility of their return was yet to be determined.

Orr said: “I have agreed to step down from my current role at Reform UK pending the outcome of the party’s internal investigation into the conduct of the program, with which I will cooperate fully.”

Since Verbatim and Channel 4 published the investigation on Thursday evening, Labour and the Liberal Democrats have reported the allegations to the Metropolitan police. 

A spokesperson for the force said: “We’re aware of media reporting on Thursday, 3 September involving political party donations and an alleged breach of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 relating to polling.

“We will assess this matter and any information provided to us.”