LONDON (AP) 鈥 The political pitch sounded familiar: The country is in crisis. The government must slash immigration, crack down on crime, ditch green energy targets and reopen factories to 鈥渕ake Britain great again.鈥
The words of to his Reform UK party鈥檚 two-day annual convention echoed themes that propelled back to the White House.
Farage, the veteran hard-right politician, hopes a similar strategy can make him prime minister 鈥 a once-unthinkable idea that allies and opponents alike are taking seriously.
鈥淚f an election were held now, Reform would be the largest party by far, albeit probably short of an overall majority,鈥 John Curtice, professor of politics at the University of Strathclyde, wrote on the BBC website. 鈥淭he question hanging over the party is - can they sustain this?鈥
Farage aims to go from outsider to power
Farage played a major role in taking the U.K. in 2020, but has never held political power. He has led a succession of small, fractious parties and only became a lawmaker in 2024 after seven failed attempts to get elected to Parliament.
Reform U.K. has only four lawmakers out of 650 in the House of Commons and got about 14% of the vote in . But for months it has led opinion polls, ahead of the center-left governing Labour Party and the main opposition Conservatives, which Reform aims to replace as Britain鈥檚 major party on the political right.
鈥淥ur country is in a very bad place,鈥 Farage told delegates at the convention, which ends Saturday in Birmingham, central England. 鈥淲e are the last chance the country has got to get this country back on track.鈥
Founded in 2018 as the Brexit Party, Reform now claims to have 240,000 members. In May, it of a dozen local authorities in England with Trump-like promises like 鈥渁 DOGE for every county,鈥 inspired by Elon Musk鈥檚 controversial .
Farage made the most of Parliament鈥檚 summer recess, when many politicians go on vacation, by holding regular news conferences to announce headline-grabbing policies like a everyone who arrives in Britain without authorization.
He has capitalized on 鈥 critics say stoked 鈥 concerns about migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats, which he has called an invasion. He welcomed protests outside hotels housing asylum-seekers over the summer, some of which turned violent.
Opponents say Farage has demonized migrants and fueled misinformation. Last year, he inaccurately suggested police were withholding information about a that left three children dead. False claims that the attacker was an asylum-seeker sparked days of rioting across England.
Reform faces the competence test
Reform鈥檚 success in May鈥檚 local elections has brought responsibilities that will test the party鈥檚 competence and popularity.
Some of the positions he shares with Trump, such as opposition to net-zero climate goals, are unpopular in Britain. Past praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin could also be a disadvantage in a country where most people back Ukraine in its war against Moscow鈥檚 invasion.
Farage鈥檚 depiction of Britain as a crime-ridden dystopia 鈥渋n societal breakdown鈥 has also met with skepticism.
In Washington on Wednesday, Farage testified to the House Judiciary Committee about what he called the 鈥渁wful authoritarian situation鈥 and lack of free speech in the U.K., citing the arrest of TV comedy writer Graham Linehan for tweets attacking transgender people and the jailing of Lucy Connolly, a woman who was sentenced to 31 months in prison for a social media post urging people to burn down hotels full of asylum-seekers.
鈥淎t what point did we become North Korea?鈥 Farage asked rhetorically.
Farage was welcomed by Republicans on the committee, but was excoriated by Democratic Rep. as a 鈥淧utin-loving free speech impostor and Trump sycophant.鈥 In London, noted Farage鈥檚 absence from the House of Commons, saying that he had 鈥渇lown to America to badmouth and talk down our country.鈥
Other parties scramble to respond
Both the Conservatives and Labour are struggling to respond to Reform鈥檚 rise. Starmer has been criticized for not confronting the far-right party more strongly, instead seeming to agree with some of its talking points about immigration. In a May speech, Starmer said Britain risked becoming an 鈥渋sland of strangers,鈥 a phrase that some felt echoed Conservative politician Enoch Powell鈥檚 notorious 1968 speech predicting 鈥渞ivers of blood鈥 as a result of mass immigration.
Starmer later said he regretted using the phrase.
Political scientist Stuart Turnbull-Dugarte, who studied reaction to the speech, said Labour is 鈥渓egitimizing the immigration debate鈥 in a way that plays into Reform鈥檚 hands and alienates its own supporters.
鈥淎nti-immigration voters are not convinced by the turn, whereas pro-immigration voters are, and they鈥檙e the ones who become really upset about it,鈥 said Turnbull-Dugarte, an associate professor at the University of Southampton.
The media also comes in for criticism for amplifying Farage. The Green Party, which has the same number of lawmakers, receives a fraction of the attention. Reform is far ahead in opinion polls, however.
The government does not have to call an election until 2029, and a lot can happen in four years.
Farage said Friday that amid instability in Starmer鈥檚 government, 鈥渢here is every chance now of a general election happening in 2027, and we must be ready for that moment.鈥
