By GB News (Politics) | Created at 2025-02-01 07:18:23 | Updated at 2025-02-01 09:58:17
2 hours ago
Nigel Farage has his eyes on No10. And those close to the Reform UK leader are in little doubt that a rarely celebrated victory secured through Brexit could be what catapults him into power.
Five years after the UK's freedom from the EU, and five years after the former MEP declared he was done with politics for good, Farage now looks more likely than ever before to one day be Prime Minister.
Reform UK figures past and present, who are planning - or cheering on - the biggest shake-up to Britain's two-party dominance in a century are all in agreement that he split from Brussels has opened up an opportunity.
With the party rapidly "professionalising", according to chairman Zia Yusuf, there is a real sense from those within Reform UK that entering No10 could turn from being a fantasy to reality.
Gawain Towler, a close Farage ally for more than a decade and the party's ex-communications chief, told GB News: "The moral hazard of being a member of the EU was that Eurocrats would blame Westminster, and Westminster would blame the EU.
"Your poor peasantry - us - was sitting there going: 'Who do I blame - or, for that matter, congratulate?' We don't know.
Insiders hope one key Brexit victory could catapult Nigel Farage and Reform UK into Downing Street
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"Now, the buck stops with our own elected politicians, rather than bureaucrats and civil servants in Brussels that we have no control over.
"For the first time since we joined the EU, we actually have the ability to hold our politicians to account.
"If they want to put VAT onto school fees, which I think is a bloody bad idea, they could not do so unless they left the EU. Now, we can hold them to account for that decision."
His view is widely echoed by those associated with Farage's party.
During the years of the UK's EU membership, inaction could be blamed on what the Tories call "arbitrary and burdensome" Brussels red tape, stringent over-regulation, and covering the cost of sharing a continent with volatile economies like Greece.
When Britain was bound to the bloc, the blame for the UK's structural issues could be passed over to Europe.
"Take back control" was the central mantra of the 2016 Leave campaign, and there is little wriggle room for Westminster politicians these days to point the finger.
The Conservatives were unceremoniously dumped by the UK electorate last summer after trust in the party hit crisis levels during the 2019-2024 Parliament.
Since then, under Labour, business confidence is plummeting, crime is skyrocketing, and economic growth is languishing at a fraction of a per cent - leaving British politicians with nowhere left to hide.
MORE ON BREXIT:
Gawain Towler, Reform UK's ex-communications chief, told GB News 'the buck stops with our own elected politicians' no the UK is outside the EU
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Gawain Towler, has been a close ally of Nigel Farage for more than a decade, and been by his side since before the 2016 EU referendum
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British politicians from both parties have been left with nowhere to hide - and it's that collective sense of being let down that Reform UK openly admits it is seeking to capitalise on.
Richard Tice, the party's deputy leader, told the People's Channel that the Conservatives and Labour alike have "failed" the British public.
He said: "It's worth remembering that Kemi Badenoch was in a position in the Cabinet where she could, at the stroke of a pen, have got rid of 4,000 pieces of retained EU law - and chose not to do so.
"Brexit has happened, but the dreams of many of us that fought for it and campaigned for it have not yet been realised."
Farage, tearing into Britain's migration levels, added: "It isn't Brexit that's failed, it's the Conservative Government of 2019 that has failed.
"Something, sadly, that the Labour Party will continue with."
Nigel Farage has argued Reform UK is necessary because both the Conservative and Labour have "failed" the British public
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Reform UK believe a growing proportion of the British population are looking for change
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Richard Tice told GB News "the dreams of many of us that fought for [Brexit] and campaigned for it have not yet been realised"
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The Tories dispute Reform's characterisation of its time in Government after January 31, 2020.
Brexit "led to the UK ending the supremacy of EU law, putting Parliament in control of UK laws, and leading to the reform or revocation of almost 2,500 pieces of arbitrary or burdensome EU law," a Conservative spokesman said.
"Outside the EU, and free of their regulations, we have been able to deliver more competitive tax policies, such as cutting VAT on certain products, reducing and simplifying tariffs, and making the City more competitive."
But polling appears to back up the public's sense of frustration with the two parties which have traditionally dominated the UK's electoral landscape.
Seven polls across the last week have placed Reform UK ahead of the Conservatives - and one, from pollsters at Find Out Now, has put the party in front of Labour too.
Find Out Now's head of research Tyron Surmon told GB News: "The 2024 General Election saw the lowest combined vote share for the two major parties in British history, with Labour and the Conservatives together getting 57 per cent of the vote.
"In Find Out Now's latest voting intention polling this has gone even lower - now at 44 per cent - with Reform now as the largest party.
"Reform have almost doubled in support since last July, driven equally by winning over a fifth of 2024 Conservative voters, and almost half of those who didn't vote last time but said that they would if there were an election now.
"No other party has grown their voter base in this way.
One survey from pollsters at Find Out Now has put Reform UK in standalone first place
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"But perhaps more importantly, their supporters are far more motivated than that of the other parties.
"While few Labour voters have switched to Reform - less than one in 10 - almost three times as many would stay at home if there was an election tomorrow - making Reform's support grow in both absolute and relative terms."
While current polls are promising for Reform UK, the party is not willing to be complacent.
Towler admitted "sniping from the sidelines" will not be enough to propel Farage to Downing Street alone.
"We're going to have to do a lot more than that," he told the People's Channel.
"I think the target's getting bigger. It's not the barn door anymore - it's the barn.
"And in four years' time, it won't be the barn, it will be the village."
