In a large function room at the Grange Moor Hotel in Maidstone on Wednesday, 54 Reform UK activists from two Kent constituencies were crammed inside to plot Nigel Farage’s path to power.
Joining together just days after the populist party’s NEC conference, supporters from Mid Kent & Faversham and Maidstone & Malling gathered for their third-joint meet-up since the 2024 General Election.
With 266 local associations already being formed, an insider revealed the number in attendance on Wednesday had doubled compared to the group’s last outing.
The wind really seems to be behind Reform UK’s sails after chairman Zia Yusuf revealed the number of paid-up members has now exceeded 85,000.
Weald of Kent’s Reform UK general election candidate Daniel Kersten also headed down to the Grange Moor Hotel to announce another association was being formed imminently.
Reform UK will undoubtedly pump a lot of time and resources into Kent’s upcoming county council elections.
Reform UK members and supporters at the meeting
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A presentation on how to engage younger voters to get behind Reform UK
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The Garden of England, which was once home to Ukip MP Mark Reckless following his 2014 by-election victory in Rochester & Strood, will put up all of its 81 wards on May 1, 2025.
With Reform UK’s support now hovering just below 20 per cent nationally, Farage will hope to emulate Ukip’s 2013 success when 17 councillors were elected to County Hall in Maidstone.
Reform UK contested just 11 wards in 2021, picking up 1,561 votes on just 0.4 per cent of the vote.
However, the populist party’s general election performance in Kent showed just how important the Garden of England could be.
Ex-London Mayor candidate Howard Cox finished second in Dover & Deal, with Reform UK’s trailing Labour by just 1,407 votes in Sittingbourne & Sheppey and 3,700 votes in Chatham & Aylesford.
Across the whole of Kent, Reform UK received 21 per cent support, marginally up on Ukip’s 20.3 per cent in 2015, ensuring the populist party ended up in third-place behind Labour on 31.3 per cent and the Tories on 31 per cent.
Swale Borough Council’s priory ward recently revealed the inroads Reform UK continues to make post-election.
Reform UK received 26.9 per cent of the vote, with the Tories slumping to 20.6 per cent and the Liberal Democrats holding on to 42.5 per cent.
Maxwell Harrison, who stood as Reform UK’s Faversham & Mid Kent general election candidate and now chairs the seat’s local association, told GB News: “Without a shadow of doubt, our mission is to win the next General Election.
Nigel FarageREUTERS
Reform UK chairman Zia YusufREUTERS“I am thrilled that after two weeks of our Local Branch being formed, Reform UK smashed the Conservative Party in the Priory Ward by-election, despite our local MP being parachuted in.
“Voters in Kent realise that the Conservative brand is completely broken.
“With our membership rising daily, our ability to carry out extensive campaigning operations has already significantly strengthened.
“We are only getting started. Make no mistake, on 2 May 2025, we will wake up with Reform UK KCC Councillors here.”
Attendees on Wednesday discussed a number of key topics with attention already being turned to May 1, 2025.
An insider revealed: “Volunteers on a ward-by-ward basis were signed up, target areas were discussed, and individuals were invited to put themselves forward to become candidates.”
Reform UK supporters were also shown a presentation of how to attract and engage with young voters after Farage claimed a groundswell of support with under-30s.
Certain surveys suggest Reform UK finished fourth among 18 to 24-year-olds but leapt up to second with 25 to 34-year-olds.
JL Partners also revealed that Reform UK was neck-and-neck with Labour among boys aged 16 and 17.
Wednesday’s event was also attended by other local association chairmen, including Ashford’s Brian Collins.
Reform UK Faversham and Mid Kent Local Branch
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Reform UK Maidstone and Malling Local Branch
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Describing the atmosphere in the room, Reform UK’s Faversham & Mid Kent deputy campaign coordinator Jess Valentine told GB News: “Tonight’s meeting demonstrates just how organised, professional, and dedicated our team is here in the Faversham and Mid Kent Local Branch.
“In the meeting, we set out our clear and ambitious plan to gather sufficient voting data and further organise the Local Branch so that we can win future elections both at a local and national level.”
When asked how worried the Tories and Labour should be about Reform UK, Reform UK’s Maidstone & Malling chairman Paul Thomas added: “Reform UK has the momentum as our meeting this evening demonstrated with an increased turnout.
“As another example prior to the General Election the Maidstone and Malling Constituency only had around 300 members and supporters of which around 20 were members.
“Immediately prior to the meeting that [mumber] stood at 546 of which of significance is 155 are members. Our support and membership is actively growing.”
Despite Reform UK’s updated constitution enabling members and MPs to remove Farage as leader, supporters of the populist party remain in awe of the Brexit stalwart.
“Nigel Farage MP is the only politician that represents and speaks on behalf of law-abiding people in Great Britian, and in my opinion, the only person that can reverse the bad decisions that have been made over the past 14 years,” 59-year-old ex-Tory voter Michaeala from Kingswood said.
A number of policies appear to have driven support to Reform UK.
Two attendees appeared to suggest Labour’s decision to axe Winter Fuel Payments for 10 million pensioners and slap VAT on private school fees could tip voters toward Farage.
Ian Geldard, 62, from Downswood, said: “As a retired teacher, I’m supporting Reform UK for their ideals on education – opposition to VAT on independent schools, or at the very least, exemption for military families.”
Nigel FarageGETTY
Ben HabibPAAnthony Marjeram, from Maidstone, added: “I am supporting Reform UK due to the fact I want Winter Fuel Payments for the elderly in my area, and to have less tax for people who are working class and need that money to fuel the British economy.”
During Reform UK’s 2024 conference at the NEC, Farage explained just how essential local activists would be to deliver change.
The Reform UK leader, who urged activists to take inspiration from the Liberal Democrats, said: “We will not realise our dream unless the People’s Army of supporters are organised.
“Unless the People’s Army of supporters are helped to professionalise.
“Unless that People’s Army fights elections not just as a paper name on the ballot, but with the intention of winning as many seats as we can.”
Discussing the 2024 General Election result, Farage added: “At that stage of our development, we weren’t big enough, wealthy enough, professional enough to vet general election candidates properly, and that amateurism let us down.
“We could have won a lot more votes and there are lessons we need to learn from that. So as I stood in the count in Clacton in those early hours, I said yes of course I would represent the constituency, the constituents in Parliament.
“But I had a job, and my job was to professionalise and to democratise Reform UK. That was the honest and solemn promise that I made to you, the members.”
In a recent letter to Reform UK activists, Yusuf added: “Over the coming weeks we will build a local campaign winning machine by opening Reform UK branches across the UK.
“We are moving as fast as we can, but will be opening them in waves. If you are in a constituency in the first phase you will already have received an invitation to the inaugural local Reform meeting.
“If you have not received an invitation, please do not be disheartened, we will be opening a branch in your constituency very soon. Under Nigel’s leadership we can become the party of Government and restore Britain to greatness.”
However, not everyone from Reform UK is impressed with the direction the populist party is heading in.
Ex-deputy leader Ben Habib, who stood in Wellingborough in this year’s by-election and general election, was disappointed with Reform UK’s constitution which was passed by attendees at the NEC last Saturday.
He told GB News: “The document is really poor. It’s badly drafted, incomplete and ill-thought-through. It’s really not good at any level.”
Habib also claimed that the “marginal” changes would ensure power remains “vested” in Reform UK’s board rather than the membership, adding: “This is not democracy.”