Reform UK conference: Nigel Farage desperately tries to downplay donations row in closing speech. hyn

Suella Braverman has insisted the party is “100% behind” Nigel Farage after the latest donations scandal cast a shadow over his leadership.

Asked whether her colleagues Zia Youssef and Robert Jenrick were on manouevres for the top job, she told the Mirror: “The simple answer is no. Listen, I’ve seen a lot of skulduggery, let’s say, within the Conservative party. And it’s another reason why I left. Actually, no one could really be trusted and I obviously couldn’t trust the party any longer.

“I’ve been really uplifted by the sense of unity and joint mission and teamwork that’s that defines the top team in the in the shadow the shadow team. So, no, listen, I know we’re all behind 100% Nigel.

“I want him to be Prime Minister. So does Robert, so does Zia. And we’re not going to stop working and fighting until we achieve that goal.”

Suella Braverman said Reform UK was ‘100% behind’ Nigel Farage after the latest scandal(Image: Getty Images)

Explosive allegations on foreign donations dominated the news during Reform conference.

But The Mirror also wanted to ensure no gaffes, or strange moments were missed.

Read more from Mirror Politics’ Mikey Smith at the Reform UK conference: Eight weird and sinister moments from Reform conference – from free speech to flags

Nigel Farage was caught out by his own backdrop at the Reform UK conference(Image: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire)

Lobbyists partially funded by a US group who took cash from the tobacco industry were given a prime spot in Reform UK’s annual conference – without declaring the links.

A stand bearing the slogan “Labour’s inconvenience store” was placed at the entry of the conference, seen by thousands of people on their way in and out of the event.

The stand, attacking Labour for “nanny state” policies aimed at reducing smoking, is operated by We Vape, a group funded in part by US pro-tobacco pressure group Consumer Choice Center.

The US-based Consumer Choice Center have taken cash from Philip Morris International and British American Tobacco – the world’s biggest cigarette manufacturers. It is plastered with a series of ‘shocking’ mock health warnings, including “alcohol gives you liver cancer” and “vapes are addictive” – all of which are true.

And it features a series of products including drinks and crisps mocked up in cigarette-style plain packaging – despite there being no plan to introduce plain packaging for either.

Read more: Reform UK gives ‘nanny state’ lobbyists funded by US pro-tobacco group prime spot at conference

The pro-tobacco lobbying groups’s advertising stand was the first thing attendees saw at Reform UK’s conference in Birmingham(Image: Mikey Smith)

In her analysis of Nigel Farage’s closing speech, the Mirror’s political editor Lizzy Buchan writes:

Nigel Farage sought to whip up his fanatical supporters in a speech to close Reform’s disastrous conference. Surrounded by smoke machines and sparks, the Reform leader received a jubilant reception from the hall as he ran through his usual playbook of grievances.He was forced to return again to the donations scandal that has dominated this conference.But he claimed the gathering had been upbeat – despite what the pesky media will tell you – and the other parties affairs would look dismal and grey in comparison.In truth, this conference has been lacking in Farage’s usual razzmatazz.The donations row, and the loss of two of his closest aides, torpedoed the event’s momentum and have clearly left him bruised.Vibes do matter in politics. This doesn’t look like the Farage or the Reform of last year.

Nigel Farage appears ‘bruised’ by the new donations scandal(Image: AFP via Getty Images)

At the end of a brief speech, the Reform UK leader invited members of his top team – including Richard Tice, Zia Yusuf and Lee Anderson – on stage to close the conference with a chorus of the national anthem.

A chorus of the national anthem closed the Reform UK conference(Image: AFP via Getty Images)

It’s been a long and draining couple of days.

Seems even the ‘People’s Army’ has had enough as there are a lot of empty seats for Nigel Farage’s closing speech.

The Reform UK leader has finally appeared on stage after a delay – albeit a shorter one than yesterday.

Wearing a bright turqioiuse suit, he opened by speaking of “good days and difficult days”, acknowledging that the party has made “mistakes”, referring to the donations scandal that has overshadowed the conference.

He said: “I’ll tell you what we learned yesterday and today. There will be times in this journey when there are good days and times when there are difficult days.

“More often than not, things will be put upon us that are unfair.

“But sometimes we will make mistakes, sometimes we will get things wrong and get a bit of a kicking for it.

“But what this conference has shown is whatever you throw at the leadership, whatever you throw at you, the people’s army, we immediately pick ourselves up, dust ourselves down and start all over again.”

Nigel Farage spoke of ‘mistakes’ in the closing speech(Image: AFP via Getty Images)

Suella Braverman has injected some energy into the room by throwing some red meat to the Reform faithful.

She’s finally got round to talking about her brief – schools and education – and made a flag-related promise.

Ms Braverman got a loud cheer and a semi-standing ovation (it’s not that energetic) by pledging: “Under a Reform government every school will sign the national anthem and our great hymns.”

She went on: “Under a Reform government every school will be obliged to fly the Union flag.”

The audience loved this. The former Tory Home Secretary went on to tell them she wants to oversee a “balanced patriotic curriculum” in Britain’s schools.

That’ll shake off the cobwebs for anyone starting to nod off.

Suella Braverman is the last to speak before Nigel Farage’s closing speech(Image: AFP via Getty Images)

Suella Braverman, giving her first Reform UK conference speech since defecting in January, has taken the opportunity to plug her upcoming book.

The former Tory Home Secretary told audience members it would spark a backlash as she called on supporters to splash out.

Ms Braverman said: “When it comes out, I warn you, the lefties are going to go bananas. The Tories are going to get their knickers in a twist.

“If everyone in this one brought a copy, we can send a message… that the people’s army ain’t going anywhere”.

She said she has no regrets about leaving the Tories, saying her former colleagues “broke Britain”. This will be covered in her book, we’re told.

That’ll be something to look forward to.

Reform UK’s education spokesperson is the last person to speak before Nigel Farage.

Wearing a bright red outfit – prompting a quip that she is “not defecting to Labour” in the opening seconds of her address – she described leaving the Tories as the “best decision of her life”, after marrying her husband.

Suella Braverman is the last to speak before Nigel Farage’s closing speech(Image: AFP via Getty Images)

Though the majority of attendees are suited up or opting for a more ‘smart casual’ look, some party faithful have been wandering around the conference hall in more exuberant outfits.

You’ll see plenty of variations of the Union Jack on show, including on bags, leggings, headbands, and bandanas.

Two enthusiastic supporters on day three of the Reform UK conference(Image: TOLGA AKMEN/EPA/Shutterstock)

Mirror political correspondent Dave Burke writes:

Like a lot of people in this room, I’m ready for this to be over.

It’s hard to see how the Reform high command can look back on this year’s conference as a success. There’s a lot of empty seats as the afternoon session gets away, with the main hall currently feeling pretty empty.Proceedings on the main stage are really starting to grate – imagine being in the audience for a rubbish 90s game show as an enthusiastic host (in this case Dr David Bull) tries to drum up an atmosphere. There’s bright lights, loud music and – let’s me honest – not much substance.Thankfully we’re in the final straight. We’ve got Suella Braverman to come, followed by a closing speech by Nigel Farage.Let’s hope he runs on time and we can all get out of here.

Nigel Farage has said he does not approve of the protest by a large crowd of masked men in Dover, which disrupted travel through the busy port today.

In an interview with ITV’s Robert Peston, the Reform leader was told the demonstration had intimated members of the public in Dover, and he was asked whether it was the right way to protest.

Mr Farage replied: “Intimidation goes both ways, you know.

“There’s intimidation through mothers walking through a park with their kids where there are gangs of men just idling around, staying at HMOs (a house in multiple occupation) or hotels.

“I do not approve of what is happening in Dover today.

“I do not approve of masked people turning up and protesting anywhere, whatever side of the argument they’re on.”

Reform UK’s Robert Jenrick meanwhile described the protests as “disgraceful”.

Nigel Farage said he ‘does not approve’ of the Dover protests(Image: Anadolu via Getty Images)

Ahead of his closing speech, the Reform UK leader sat down for a friendly interview with Jeremy Kyle, who is fronting the party’s official live stream this conference.

He answered questions from the former talk show host and selected members of the audience gathered around a circular stage on the conference floor – with Dame Emily Thornberry, postal voting and ‘attacks’ from the established parties among the topics of conversation.

Nigel Farage sat down with Jeremy Kyle, who is on presenting duties for Reform UK(Image: Will Colebourne/PA Wire)

Nigel Farage is due to give his closing speech at 4pm. It’s down in the agenda as lasting 45 minutes.

Despite the chaos of this year’s conference, I’ve just seen him looking extremely cheerful in the main conference hall. Farage’s favourite part about conference is no doubt getting to lap up the support from his most loyal fans.

He received woos and cheers after doing some unsightly acrobatics to show off his Union Jack socks. The grin is plastered on his face from ear to ear.

But, as I mentioned, these are his most loyal fans. Polls showing Reform’s support is dropping off are a reminder that it is the people out across the whole country that matter.

Mirror Political Correspondent Sophie Huskisson here…

Nigel Farage is taking questions from his mate Jeremy Kyle. They’re sitting in armchairs on a platformed stage in the main conference hall.

Guess what? He’s ranting about how the establishment is scared of him and Reform UK.

Mr Kyle – who claims you could get arrested in Birmingham for supporting the Union Jack flag – welcomes a conference delegate who set up a grassroots campaign backing our country’s flag. The delegate says he is fighting court battles against councils who have told him not to raise flags.

Mr Farage says he will give the man’s proposals to his lawyers. He then talks about how the “anti-flag” campaign has been going on for a long time. In a typically winding rant, he makes a jibe about Dame Emily Thornberry and questions Labour being the “party of working people” because she accepted a damehood.

Isn’t this coming from the man who accepted a £5million gift?

Mirror Political Correspondent Sophie Huskisson here…

I’ve just seen a pretty grim moment in the main hall when a list of LGBTQ+ terms and definitions appears to be booed by the crowd.

We’re hearing about motions put forward by members on the main stage. If they’re backed, they the motions have to be discussed by the party board within three months of this conference.

The first motion put forward today calls for the public sector equality duty to be replaced with a statutory public duty of impartiality. The Reform branch secretary putting it forward says the equality duty has “morphed into a stick to beat people down”, and criticises diversity, equity and inclusion schemes.

When asked if anyone opposes the motion? One member takes the opportunity to stand up at a mic in front of the stage… though it turns out this was a stunt. The man begins his address with “Lords, Ladies”, before continuing with a list of different LGBTQ+ identities, such as people who are bisexual or transgender.

As the list goes on, people in the audience start booing him. He then ends by declaring he supports the motion (and his list was apparently ironic), with the audience erupting into laughter and applause.

A senior Reform figure has said people who heckle Nigel Farage will not get “gentle treatment” – while police examine footage of a woman being assaulted by members.

A sickening clip shows a woman being hit around the head with a crutch before her hair is pulled and a hand put over her mouth at the party conference. The grey haired man seen assaulting her was not a member of the event’s security team.

Another woman from the crowd can be seen pulling the protester’s hair as guards escorted her from Birmingham’s NEC. Asked by The Mirror whether those involved should face consequences during a debate about free speech, Nadine Dorries said those who disrupt speakers should not expect to be treated gently and said it was “shocking” that protesters had been there.

Ms Dorries, who was Tory Culture Secretary under Boris Johnson before defecting to Reform, said: “Somebody said to me it was shocking to see protesters being treated the way they were. I think what was also shocking was the way they thought they could come into the conference and try to derail Nigel Farage’s speech.”

Click here for the full story

A protester was whacked with a walking stick(Image: X)

Mirror Political Correspondent Sophie Huskisson here…

Robert Jenrick’s speech is dragging on. His jokes – and there are many of them – are repeatedly falling flat.

The Tory turncoat just did a long-winded joke about Just Eat takeaways, which he said he was a fan of before he started on weight-loss jabs.

“Before I did my Ozempic, I used to go on that app quite a lot, but like many people, I got tired of them getting the order wrong. Promised items never delivered. Everything a bit limp and wet, and nothing ever coming when it was meant to.”

Here comes the punchline… “But enough about the Tory Party.”

The crowd offers him one of the limpest chuckles I’ve heard all conference.

Mirror Political Editor Lizzy Buchan writes…

Whingeing Robert Jenrick used his conference speech to go on a well-trodden rant on how the establishment is trying to bring Reform down.

He then tried to turn entertainer, going on the attack against Labour, saying Rachel Reeves, Keir Starmer and David Lammy could do panto in Clacton.

At one point he led to audience in an excruciating rendition of ‘Oh no it isn’t” – but only got it right the second time as the first response was so lukewarm.

The Tory defector also took a savage swipe at his old colleague Mel Stride, the former Shadow Chancellor, saying he was so unknown that his P45 was delivered to ‘To whomever it may concern’

Mirror Political Correspondent Sophie Huskisson here…

I’m a bit confused by Laila Cunningham’s speech, which has just wrapped up on the main stage.

The London mayoral candidate has pretty much solely spoken about crime. She says Nigel Farage “trusted me to take on crime because I had spent my career prosecuting it”, adding that it’s the reason she spoke on crime at Reform’s Lawless Britain campaign launch. But it’s Zia Yusuf – Reform’s home affairs spokesman – who is in charge of the crime brief.

It appears she sees crime as central to her London mayoral candidate role. She paints London as completely overwhelmed by crime, where pensioners can’t go to the shop and violence engulfs the city. She says she wants to see “a bobby at every tube station, visible police on our streets. They will stop. They will search, and boy, will they intervene”. She pledges to “take back London streets” in her first 100 days in post.

But stats suggest serious crime in London is down, with the police upping efforts to crackdown on gangs and increase arrests. Current London mayoral candidate Sadiq Khan has long voiced frustrations with critics talking down England’s capital city.

Mirror Political Correspondent Sophie Huskisson here…

I’ve just arrived at the main stage for Laila Cunningham’s speech.

The hall is by no means empty but it’s nowhere near as packed as it was yesterday.

(Image: Sophie Huskisson)

Mirror Political Correspondent Sophie Huskisson here…

Reform MP Danny Kruger has just told a panel event he dreams of Donald Trump and Nigel Farage being in power at the same time to “save the west” together.

Asked about the possibility of progressive Democrat politician Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez being US President, Mr Kruger says: “It’s an awful thought, isn’t it, what American politics might lead to in the next term. I fervently hope that we have another Republican president…

“I hope we will have a responsible, respectful relationship with whoever’s in the White House. But clearly it will be easier, I mean, I dream of a Trump/Vance and Trump, sorry, sorry, Farage/Vance, Farage/Rubio partnership. It could be like the 1980s Reagan and Maggie. We could save the West together. That’s what we should hope for.”

Nadine Dorries has said people who heckle Reform politicians will not get “gentle treatment”.

Speaking during a debate on free speech, the former Tory cabinet member hit out at protesters when asked about footage appearing to show a woman being shoved by Reform members after shouting during Nigel Farage’s speech.

West Midlands Police has said it is aware of the clip.

Ms Dorries told supporters at a debate: “Somebody said to me it was shocking to see protesters being treated the way they were. I think what was also shocking was the way they thought they could come into the conference and try to derail Nigel Farage’s speech.”

And she went on: “If you’re going to come into a conference like this… of course you’re not going to get gentle treatment.”

She added: “It’s wrong, no one should be punched.. No one should attend this conference and try and disrupt it.”

Asked about the footage by The Mirror, Reform’s home affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf said: “To the question from The Mirror about whether I condemn people punching people, yes I do condemn people punching people.”

Mirror Political Correspondent Sophie Huskisson here…

I’m at a panel event where Reform MP Danny Kruger – another Tory defector – has warned Britain is in danger of a “revolt” against the Government if Reform is not elected.

In an incendiary rant, he warns Reform members there is a “crisis of power” in which those in charge are “estranged” from the British public.

Mr Kruger continues: “Those are the conditions for revolt, and the reason that our country has been so great over so many centuries, why we have avoided civil war, why we have been so uniquely peaceful and prosperous, is because the power structure and the elites have always been on the side of the people, and when they’re not, we have trouble.

“And the reason other countries have revolutions is because the public revolts against that. We need to avoid that. I don’t want to exaggerate the danger we’re in, although I think it’s difficult to exaggerate because we are in complete danger.

“But if Reform doesn’t win, if we don’t take back control of the structures of power in our country, if we don’t introduce back a link into our national institutions that believe in our nation, that have our values at their heart, family, community, country, then the conditions are right for a revolt that we are not going to like.”

There’s a debate going on at the moment about free speech.

The head of Big Brother Watch, Silky Carlo, has challenged panel members about journalists being barred.

Free speech advocate Nadine Dorries has defended the decision to stop award-winning reporter Michael Crick from attending.

The former Tory cabinet member described him as a ‘pain in the bum’.

‘He’s only there to cause trouble and to try derail what’s taking place at the time,’ she said.

‘I don’t think Michael Crick should be able to attend any conference because he’s there to cause trouble.’

It’s the final day of Reform conference and the main stage will be packed with right-wingers trying to whip up party faithful.

Here’s the agenda – you wouldn’t want to miss any of it would you…

12:00 – Welcome Back

12:20 – Laila Cunningham

12:30 – Dan Thomas MS

12:45 – Robert Jenrick MP

13:05 – Motions

14:05 – Lunch

15:30 – Malcolm Offord MSP

15:45 – Suella Braverman MP

16:00 – Nigel Farage MP closing speech

Here’s a bit more about the scenes during Nigel Farage’s speech yesterday.

Mirror political correspondent Dave Burke writes…

Police have urged a woman who appeared to be assaulted as she was ejected from Reform conference to come forward.

Footage shows the protester being grabbed and pushed as she was hauled out after heckling Nigel Farage yesterday.

No complaint has been made, but officers said they are aware of the incident. The woman was among several people kicked out of the conference after shouting at Mr Farage.

A West Midlands Police spokesman told The Mirror: “We’re aware of a video circulating from the Reform UK Conference showing an incident with a protester.

“We haven’t received a complaint but would ask the woman involved to come forward and contact us so we can carry out enquiries. Anyone with any information should contact us on 101 quoting log number 924 of 5 September.”

Mirror Political Editor Lizzy Buchan writes…

Over oysters and wine, Nigel Farage exposed his greatest weakness.

The Reform leader was caught on camera where he appeared to be celebrating the success of a poll with an undercover reporter, as part of a year-long investigation aired by Channel 4. Two top aides, Dan Jukes and James Orr, were forced to step down after allegedly arranging for an American company to fund influential polls that Reform had commissioned.

Senior Reform figures were bullish on Thursday night, with Jukes spotted at Farage’s side when he hobnobbed with journalists. But by Friday morning he was out, as Reform realised their attempts to brand the probe a hoax and a stitch up weren’t working.

Aside from the legal questions, the episode appears to show a breathtaking level of arrogance – and incompetence – not to take more care when Reform’s finances are already under so much scrutiny. But Reform’s cavalier approach to the rules – and the culture it creates within Farage’s party – will prove an undoing.

Read the analysis in full here.