How Reform Is Preparing For A Snap Election
4 min read
Reform UK is expanding its campaign infrastructure and expediting candidate vetting in anticipation of an early general election.
While Andy Burnham has publicly ruled out a snap poll, telling the BBC that going to the country early would postpone "essential" repairs to the state, this hasn't dissuaded Nigel Farage's party from preparing to face the country sooner than originally thought.
Speaking to The House magazine ahead of Reform conference, which gets underway in Birmingham on Thursday, party chairman Lee Anderson said he believes Burnham is "probably" willing to endure Labour MP losses in a snap election to secure a fresh mandate.
Meanwhile, earlier this summer, Reform's policy director announced that his team had started putting together the party's manifesto "to prepare for an early general election".
Behind the scenes, more work is taking place to ensure the party is ready.
PoliticsHome understands there have been around 3,000 applications to stand as parliamentary candidates since earlier this year. Reform Insiders say the aim is to have as many hopefuls vetted and in place before Christmas as possible, so that a candidate list will be ready to go if Burnham announces in the New Year that he is going to the country.
Once candidates have passed initial vetting, they are invited to assessment days where officials decide they are strong enough to progress. Anderson told The House that the party has been training candidates to be MPs, "about the whipping system, about we’re there to do a job, we’re there to pass laws".
With one wave of assessment days completed, a second is due to take place in the autumn.
When it comes to the campaign machine, PoliticsHome understands Reform is scrapping its regional director role and instead introducing more branch network coordinators and campaign managers. Under the new structure, each individual appointed to their role will oversee a smaller geographical area and therefore have more capacity.
Flagging the new roles on LinkedIn in the summer, general secretary Tom Waterhouse stated: “We are recruiting. If you want to clear out our failed political class and save Britain, join us.”
Reform officials have also been carrying out internal polling to get a clearer sense of where to concentrate their resources if there is an election in the near future.
Indeed, while the mood heading into last year's Reform conference was jubilant, this year clouds are hanging over Farage and co as they gather in Birmingham following arguably the party's most difficult period since the 2024 general election.
While Labour has enjoyed a modest bounce since Burnham replaced Keir Starmer in No 10 in July, Reform's popularity has dipped in recent weeks, with questions over Farage's financial arrangements showing signs of cutting through with the public.
Pollster More in Common this week put Reform in third place on 22 per cent behind both Labour and the Tories – the party's lowest vote share in 18 months.
A Dover council by-election late last month provided the latest evidence of the threat to Reform's electoral ambitions posed by Rupert Lowe's hard-right Restore Britain. Green candidate Ingrid Dodd secured a surprise victory after the right-wing vote split three ways: Reform received 733 votes, the Tories 456, and Restore Britain 284.
This year's conference, then, will be an opportunity for the party to regain momentum and show that it can still win the next general election, whenever Burnham calls it.
PoliticsHome understands that Farage is expected to use the occasion at Birmingham's NEC to appoint more spokespeople as a way of demonstrating government readiness. The party has faced questions about why it lacks defence and foreign affairs spokespeople at a time when global affairs are so salient.
Anderson insisted in his interview with The House that his party would turn it around.
Asked about the so-called Burnham bounce, the Ashfield MP said: “It’s a get-rid-of-Starmer bounce, the most unpopular prime minister ever, ‘we’re fed up’. Of course, a few of them Labour voters who came to us over the past two years at local elections might say they could consider voting Labour now they’ve got a new leader.
"But come and ask me in six months about those same voters. Will they vote Labour? I’ll give you the answer now, and it’s no.”
Additional reporting by Adam Payne
