Nigel Farage to headline Reform UK conference as Lee Anderson insists party can win next election if they ‘take fight to Parliament’

Just a reminder the conference will return from 3pm when more speeches will be heard in Birmingham.

Nigel Farage today vowed to build an ‘election-winning machine’ as he arrived at Reform UK’s conference in Birmingham.

Setting out his aim to ‘professionalise’ his party, Mr Farage joined other senior figures in suggesting Reform could replace Labour in power at the 2029 general election.

He claimed the next few years could see a ‘seismic sea change’ in British politics although he admitted there was work to be done to overhaul Reform’s structures.

Ant Middleton has suggested the UK is on the brink of ‘civil unrest’ unless action is taken to strengthen British culture and identity.

The former SAS: Who Dares Wins star said ‘we haven’t got a secure camp’ as he likened his work on the television show to the need to address border security.

Speaking at the Reform UK party conference in Birmingham, the former soldier said:

What’s British identity? British culture. What’s British culture? British history. So why is that being eradicated? Why is that being trampled all over? Why aren’t we allowed to be the umbrella culture of this country?

Mr Middleton went on to highlight the role of Christianity in the UK’s history, saying:

The moment we lose our identity, guess what we lose? Our purpose, our focus, our direction. What happens when we don’t have an identity? We get confused.

He said he lost his identity and got confused after leaving the military, saying:

When you have a nation of confused people, guess what happens after? Frustration. You get frustrated, very much like the individual. What happens after frustration? Anger, violence. What’s happening on our streets right now? Violence.

We are at a very, very important and crucial stage before it teeters into civil unrest, which we want to avoid at all costs, but it’s coming, we’re on that edge where violence has hit the streets, we’ve all seen it, I don’t need to mention what it is, we’ve all seen it.

Ann Widdecombe urged delegates to each find 10 people to back Reform at the next election to help Nigel Farage into Downing Street.

Reform’s immigration spokesperson, told the party’s conference in Birmingham that people who arrive ‘unlawfully’ in the UK on small boats will be housed ‘in secure reception centres’.

We are not going to house the people who come in on those boats in hotels, at the cost of billions a day to the British taxpayer. We will instead house them in secure reception centres.

And then the message goes out if you arrive unlawfully in this country from a perfectly safe country then you will be refused, you will be dealt with quickly and you will be sent back.

Former Tory minister Ms Widdecombe, also touched on the pressures on prisons and referred to her time as prisons minister in the 1990s, when she said she ‘even proposed to take over a disused holiday camp’

Now all you have to do because the accommodation’s already there, you put up a secure perimeter and lo, you’ve got a low security prison.

Of course you do take away the cinema and the swimming pool before you do that.

Mr McMurdock finishes his speech by telling delegates some of them will join him in the Commons in 2029 as he insists Nigel Farage and Richard Tice will lead the party to Downing Street.

He insists momentum is with the party and recounts the achievements of having five MPs in the Commons as ‘extraordinary’.

He ends the address by telling the crowd they will hopefully one day welcome Mr Farage as ‘our Prime Minister’.

He is replaced on stage by Ann Widdecombe.

Mr McMurdock starts his speech by telling the conference he was politically homeless until recently after having grown disaffected by both the Conservatives and Labour.

He said he decided to join Reform UK after hearing an interview with Richard Tice who stressed the need to put more money in the pockets of working families.

Stumping up £25 to join the party, he jokes that little he knew how far the money would take him after he was asked to stand in the election.

Mr McMurdock, the first of the so-called Famous Five, is now giving his speech at the Reform UK conference after an introduction.

We will bring you the best lines from his speech.

As he arrived at Reform UK’s conference in Birmingham, party leader Nigel Farage set out his aim to ‘professionalise’ the party and build an ‘election-winning machine’.

He claimed the next few years could see a ‘seismic sea change’ in British politics, as senior Reform figures talk up their chances of replacing Labour in power in 2029.

Mr Farage told reporters: ‘It means weeding out candidates that are totally inappropriate and damage the work of thousands of others.

‘Let’s face it, the last election a lot of those candidates hadn’t been vetted at all. That has to change, that will change.

‘It also means building a structure on the ground – that’s a mixture of professional help but, clearly, it’s the voluntary side in the end that will make it happen.

‘What today is about is building branches, fielding candidates, fighting the county elections next year, it’s about building an election-winning machine.

‘The Lib Dems have done it in parts of the country and that’s what we have to do.’

On Reform’s chances of winning the next general election, Mr Farage added: ‘I think if ever there’s going to be a seismic sea change in politics, it’s in the next few years.’

And asked if that could seen him become PM, he replied: ‘Me or somebody other who is better looking.’

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage received a standing ovation as he entered the main hall of the party’s conference at the NEC in Birmingham.

A remix version of Diamonds by Rihanna was the soundtrack for Mr Farage’s arrival.

The first conference speech will take place in five minutes when MP James McMurdock takes to the stage.

The 38-year-old former banker unexpectedly edged the contest in the Essex seat of South Basildon and East Thurrock by 98 votes in the final election result to be declared in England.

Donald Trump supporters have been pictured arriving at the Reform UK conference with the party appearing to take influence from the former US president.

One man with a ‘God Guns and Trump’ was captured while another sported a red baseball cap emblazoned with ‘Make America Great Again’ the phrase coined by Mr Trump during his campaign for the White House in 2016.

And it appears the effectiveness of that slogan has now seeped into British politics as headgear with the words ‘Let’s Save Britain’ is among the merchandise at this conference.

Mr Trump and Mr Farage have struck up a close relationship following the former’s run to the presidency.

With Reform’s conference kicking off in the next hour, activists are slowly filling up the main hall ahead of speeches by the party’s senior figures.

The party’s open-top election battle bus has been given pride of place in the arena, while – just outside – sits a London cab adorned with Reform colours.

There are large queues across the conference venue – mainly for coffee, although some keen party members were queuing at the merchandise stand before it opened in their eagerness to purchase Reform-branded t-shirts, bags, rosettes and water bottles.

In an apparent nod to Donald Trump’s ‘Make America Great Again’ caps, there is also ‘Let’s Save Britain’ headwear on sale.

Party leader Nigel Farage has attracted a number of celebrity followers over the years and one of his showbiz friends, comedian Jim Davidson, was seen in the security queue earlier this morning.

Nigel Farage has shared a video of himself about to leave for the Reform UK conference in which he says the party will ‘come of age’

See his video which was posted on X in the past few minutes:

Let’s take a look at Reform’s five MPs who will speak at the conference this afternoon:

Mr Farage finally became a member of Parliament at the eighth time of asking when he was elected in Clacton after comfortably beating the Conservative candidate Giles Watling with a majority of 8,405. The former commodities trader is Reform UK’s highest-profile figure who is revered by some of the electorate but viewed as a hate figure by others because of his views on immigration – a charge he has always denied. Last year, Mr Farage went to the Australian jungle last year to take part in ITV’s I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! for which he was reputedly paid £1.5 million.

• Richard Tice: Boston and Skegness

Mr Tice is a millionaire former property developer from leafy Surrey. The 59-year-old is a former Tory Eurosceptic who was a Brexit Party MEP and ineffectually led Reform before Nigel Farage returned to the frontline of politics ahead of the election. Privately educated and from a wealthy family he made money in the property business, following in the footsteps of his grandfather who once sought to demolish London’s landmark Ritz Hotel to make way for offices. The divorced father-of-three is in a relationship with Isabel Oakshott, the former journalist.

Lee Anderson is a controversial figure who was Tory Party chairman until earlier this year. The 57-year-old, a former Labour councillor, fled the Conservatives after being censured for remarks about London mayor Sadiq Khan. But he had already been at the centre of other controversies. He was nicknamed ’30p Lee’ after suggesting families who used food banks were simply bad at economising, and could make a meal for 30p. The former cleaner was Reform’s sole MP before the election and retained his seat, becoming the first party candidate to win at the ballot box.

• Rupert Lowe: Great Yarmouth

The millionaire former chairman of Southampton Football Club finally won election on the east coast, in a seat formerly held by Tory Cabinet minister Brandon Lewis. A former Brexit Party MEP, he ran the Premier League club between 1999 and 2006 and remains a divisive figure among fans due to the state the club was left in after it was relegated. He took over again in 2008 but resigned the following year after it went into administration with debts of up to £30m that saw the side relegated to League 1.

• James McMurdock: South Basildon and East Thurrock

A 38-year-old former banker who unexpectedly edged the contest in the Essex seat by 98 votes in the final election result to be declared in England. After the election Mr Farage said he was a ‘paper candidate’ who had not been expected to win. The party leader said he was a ‘former city boy’ who was drafted in at the last minute and beat Labour candidate Jack Ferguson. Mr McMurdock took 12,178 votes, giving him a 30.8 per cent share – while Mr Ferguson got 12,080 and 30.5 per cent.

Earlier this week, Nigel Farage signalled he would surrender his shares in Reform UK with the party set to become a not for profit company owned by its members.

At the moment, Mr Farage is the majority shareholder in the party, which was set up as a private limited company, with Richard Tice, former Reform UK leader and now MP for Boston and Skegness, holding a minority stake.

Officials say the move is designed to “democratise” the party with members expected to vote on a new constitution during the conference in Birmingham.

That could give members new rights to debate policy and take steps to remove the leader if they wanted to.

A Reform UK official told the Financial Times

Reform UK will be a normal political party like everyone else’s. We are democratising the party and that would always be the case.

Here’a preview of Lee Anderson’s speech this afternoon in which he insists the party is looking at winning the next general election

Friends, we have a real battle on our hands to save our great country. It’s you the People’s Army that is the last defence as Parliament has given up on us.

We have 5 MPs, and we are growing our membership and support every day. Next year we will win hundreds of council seats across the UK.

We must take this fight to Parliament so we can take back control of our country and in 2029 win the general election. We can do this, but we can only get our country back if we stand strong.

Reform UK was set up by Nigel Farage as a private limited company in 2018 and was initially known as the Brexit Party, a single-issue group advocating for a no deal Brexit.

The populist group won the most seats at the 2019 European elections in the UK but success did not translate to the general election held that year with the party winning no seats.

In January 2021, the party rebranded as Reform one year after the UK left the European Union. Farage stood down as leader in March of that year and was replaced by Richard Tice.

Gaining support through its anti-lockdown messages throughout the pandemic, Reform UK has since broadened out to attract right-wing voters who had grown disaffected with the Conservatives.

In March this year Lee Anderson became the first Reform UK MP after he defected from the Conservative Party. During the election campaign, Mr Tice announced Mr Farage’s return as leader.

The party won five seats at the election with Mr Farage, Mr Tice, Mr Anderson, Rupert Lowe (pictured above) and James McMurdock all successful in the vote.

Reform UK’s conference will kick-off in Birmingham at lunchtime today with Nigel Farage’s party insisting they can win the next general election.

After winning five seats in the House of Commons at this year’s election in July, Reform are claiming they can replace Labour in power in 2029.

Mr Farage will use his keynote address to the party’s conference this afternoon to issue a ‘clarion call for change’.

Below is the schedule for today and tomorrow at the Reform UK conference in Birmingham.

Here are the timings for the key speeches today:

• 12:15pm – James McMurdock MP
• 3pm – Rupert Lowe MP
• 3.15pm – Lee Anderson MP
• 3.30pm – Richard Tice MP
• 4pm – Nigel Farage MP

Former Conservative MP Ann Widdicombe and former soldier Ant Middleton will also address the conference.

Hello and welcome to MailOnline’s live coverage of the Reform UK conference in Birmingham.

Nigel Farage will deliver the keynote speech at The NEC with MPs Lee Anderson, Richard Tice and James McMurdock also addressing delegates.

Reform has five MPs in Westminster after securing 14% of the vote in this year’s general election.

Stick with our live coverage as we guide you through the conference with the latest developments and reaction.

The conference opens at 10am but the first event is at midday.