David Williamson interviews James Orr, Reform UK’s head of policy (Image: -)
There is a decent chance that James Orr will shape the future of both Britain and the United States. The Cambridge theologian is a close friend of Vice President JD Vance and he is now head of policy at Nigel Farage’s Reform UK. If Mr Farage becomes Prime Minister in the general election expected in 2029 and Mr Vance succeeds Donald Trump as president the same year, this former Winchester schoolmate of Rishi Sunak will have a direct line into both Downing Street and the Oval Office.
We meet in Reform UK’s skyscraper headquarters which towers above the Houses of Parliament. He relishes the challenge of preparing policies for a Farage government.
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Swapping the gentle life of a Cambridge academic to play a leading role in Reform’s battle for the soul and future of the UK might look like an unusual move for the 47-year-old. The Balliol Classics graduate had once toiled at top law firms but left his legal career behind to delve into philosophy at Cambridge and Oxford, establishing expertise in “early movements in German phenomenology” – a subject unlikely to come up on Question Time. Yes, he is excited by ideas – but also by the chance to turn ideas into action.
The looming May 7 elections, he predicts, will be “historic” with the Conservatives ravaged in traditional heartlands and virtually wiped out in Scotland and Wales. He expects this will have major consequences in the run-up to the next general election.
“I think people will realise on May 8, however they voted on May 7, that we’re really the only game in town if you want to get Starmer out. If you want to keep Starmer in, vote Tory; if you want a chance of getting him out, vote Reform.”
James Orr is working on the plans Reform UK wants to put into action in Government (Image: PHIL HARRIS)
He revels in the camaraderie at the Reform HQ. This is a rare location where he is not the odd man out.
Mr Orr spent part of his childhood in Brussels – “the belly of the beast” – but at around the age of 12 or 13 he became a committed Brexiteer. During his time at Oxford, he says: “I think I was the only out-of-the-closet Brexiteer in the entirety of Christ Church… But among the groundsmen and the porters and the gardeners and the people who made our beds every morning, I couldn’t find a single Remainer.”
He found he was “politically apart in a quite a radical way on almost every issue from almost all my colleagues”. This has not changed.
“I’m a bit of an oddball in this particular elite ecosystem,” he says. But when he drives about 10 miles to a village outside Cambridge for church on a Sunday morning he finds “all my views are completely normal – in fact I’m a bit of a kind of squishy-centrist to some of the people I meet out there”.
He admits that university life has been quite a “solitary existence” with supposed academic colleagues reluctant to be seen in public with him. But when he steps through the doors of the Reform headquarters he is surrounded by comrades.
“What’s been great working here is just being part of a team,” he says.
He describes Mr Farage as “deadly serious about what the country needs” but “just fun to be around”.
He is “absolutely” sure that a Prime Minister Farage and a President Vance would together be a force for good in the world. Mr Orr struck up a friendship with Mr Vance before the American entered politics. He was deeply moved by the future MAGA superstar’s memoir Hillbilly Elegy, which documented the crises which afflicted his family in Kentucky.
“I remember going for a long walk with him and we chatted about various things and I thought, ‘Gosh, this guy – he could be in Congress one day.”
Mr Orr insists the Vice-President loves Europe – though he is in no way a fan of the European Union.
“You can love football and hate FIFA,” he says. “In fact, you can hate FIFA because you love football. And in the case of the Vice President, he doesn’t like the European Union and democratically unaccountable technocratic supranational entities that are, as it were, centralising power unaccountably in Europe because he loves Europe.”
James Orr has admired JD Vance since reading his memoir, Hillbilly Elegy (Image: Geoff Pugh/Shutterstock)
While at Winchester he never guessed fellow pupil Rishi Sunak would one day live in Number 10.
“No, I didn’t,” he says. “Although I do remember being very impressed with him. I mean, he was universally liked.”
They also “overlapped at Oxford” but Mr Sunak looked destined for a career in banking.
Britain now needs a very different type of politician in charge, he argues, saying it is “about time for somebody with Nigel Farage’s charisma, political judgment, resolution, determination and, frankly, love of his country” to be in Downing Street.
He and fellow Reform activists are “working our socks off” to get a majority in the House of Commons so they can push through controversial policies, and he is braced for “battles” with the civil service and the House of Lords.
He expects there are “parts of our agenda that would be very popular with the country at large, but extremely unpopular in SW1 and among the ruling classes”.
Flashpoints would include withdrawal from the European Convention on Human Rights, the scrapping of the Human Rights Act and the repeal and replacement of the Equality Act. These moves are considered essential for the scale of change Reform wants to bring to the asylum and immigration system in the UK. If such measures are taken, he is “absolutely” sure that small boats crossings in the Channel can be halted over the five-year course of a parliament.
This lawyer turned theologian turned politico is keeping a close eye on the Sir Keir Starmer’s attempts to “reset” Britain’s relations with the European Union. with the UK poised to “align” with regulations born in Brussels. It is feared the EU will insist on the insertion of so-called “Farage clauses” into future deals, which would require the UK to pay hefty sums if a future government pulled out of agreements.
“We’ve made it very clear already that if there are going to be any such clauses, we will disregard them and we will not feel bound by them,” he says. “We will not be paying any fines for upholding the sovereignty of Parliament.”
Reform UK’s HQ overlooks the Parliament where the party wants to take power (Image: PHIL HARRIS)
What of Mr Orr’s ambitions? Will he seek a seat in the Commons? Does he hope to champion Reform policies in the Lords? Will he focus on academia – or enter the church?
The last suggestion triggers a strong reaction. He says he is only clinging on to the Church of England by his “fingernails” and rules that option out.
“I think virtually every political position I hold is aggressively repudiated by almost every single bishop in the Church of England. It’s just a very left-wing culture.”
Kicking against the notion he wants to turn Britain into a theocracy, he says he was “opposed to abortion long before” he became a Christian in his twenties, adding: “If I became an atheist tomorrow almost all of my moral positions would be left unchanged.”
A full-time return to university life has clear attractions.
“I’m very happy in Cambridge,” he says. “I love my academic job, I love teaching my students, I love studying philosophy, I love writing. So I’d be very happy if Nigel wanted me to just head off into the sunset.”
But he adds: “If he wanted me to do something else, I would do that.”
The Man Who Could Advise Nigel Farage and JD Vance
The rise of Reform UK has created a growing demand for people who can turn political ideas into detailed policy. One of the figures attracting attention in that process is James Orr, who was appointed as Reform UK’s head of policy in 2026.
A headline describing Orr as the man who will “have the ear of Prime Minister Farage and President Vance” is, however, a forward-looking political characterisation rather than an established fact. Nigel Farage is the leader of Reform UK, while JD Vance is the US vice president. Whether either man ultimately governs in the circumstances suggested by the headline is a matter for future elections and political developments.
What can be examined now is Orr’s background, political outlook and the significance of his role inside Reform UK.
Orr’s appointment comes at a moment when Reform is seeking to develop a more detailed policy programme. The party has spent much of its recent political life campaigning against established parties and emphasising issues such as immigration, taxation, national sovereignty, regulation and Britain’s relationship with Europe.
Moving from opposition campaigning to a credible programme for government requires considerably more than memorable slogans. It requires policy documents, legislation, economic calculations, administrative plans and an understanding of how proposed changes would operate in practice.
That is where a head of policy can become particularly important.
According to reporting on Orr’s appointment, his political interest goes back to his time at Oxford University, where he was a prominent supporter of Brexit. He later developed a career focused on political and policy work, giving him experience in translating broad political principles into more detailed proposals.
His political background also fits into a wider intellectual current associated with the modern British right: greater national sovereignty, scepticism about aspects of European integration and an emphasis on reducing the influence of institutions that are perceived as constraining elected governments.
For Reform UK, those ideas are closely connected to the party’s origins.
Farage has spent decades arguing that Britain should have greater control over its laws, borders and economic policy. Brexit represented the most important political achievement associated with that argument, but Reform has subsequently attempted to broaden the agenda.
Immigration has become one of the party’s central subjects. Reform has also proposed substantial changes to taxation, energy policy, government spending and regulation.
A policy chief therefore faces a difficult task. It is relatively easy for a political movement to identify what it opposes. It is much harder to explain exactly what it would do instead.
That distinction could become increasingly significant for Reform.
Political parties in opposition can campaign around dissatisfaction with the government. Governments, by contrast, have to make choices involving limited resources and competing priorities.
If Reform wants to present itself as a potential governing party, its proposals need to answer practical questions.
How much would they cost?
Which laws would need to change?
How quickly could reforms be implemented?
What would happen if courts challenged them?
How would businesses, local authorities and public services respond?
And what would be the consequences for Britain’s relationship with other countries?
These questions place considerable importance on the people responsible for policy development.
Orr’s appointment also has an international dimension because of the comparisons frequently made between Reform’s political approach and developments in the United States.
JD Vance has become one of the most prominent figures in American conservative politics. His political career has been associated with economic nationalism, criticism of parts of the political establishment, opposition to some aspects of America’s foreign-policy consensus and a strong emphasis on national interests.
There are obvious differences between British and American political systems, however. The United Kingdom operates under a parliamentary system, while the United States has a presidential system. Britain also has different institutions, laws, electoral arrangements and relationships with Europe.
Any attempt to copy American policies directly into Britain would therefore face significant practical differences.
Nevertheless, politicians and policy thinkers on both sides of the Atlantic increasingly exchange ideas.
Questions surrounding trade, energy security, defence spending, migration and relations with international organisations have become part of a wider political debate about national sovereignty.
That creates potential space for people such as Orr, whose background includes a strong interest in the political arguments surrounding Brexit.
For Reform, the attraction of this intellectual connection is clear. The party has attempted to position itself not simply as a protest movement but as part of a broader political realignment taking place across Western democracies.
Supporters describe that realignment as a rejection of established political assumptions. Critics argue that the comparison can oversimplify significant differences between countries and political systems.
Both interpretations form part of the debate surrounding Reform’s development.
The most immediate challenge for Orr, however, is domestic rather than international.
Reform needs to develop detailed answers to Britain’s persistent problems.
The country’s immigration system remains politically contentious. Public services face pressure. Economic growth has been weaker than many governments would like. Energy costs remain an important concern for households and businesses. Housing shortages and infrastructure constraints continue to affect communities across the country.
A party seeking government therefore needs policies that go beyond identifying those problems.
This is particularly relevant to Farage’s political strategy.
Farage is an experienced campaigner and communicator. His strength has traditionally been his ability to reduce complicated political arguments to simple propositions that can be communicated directly to voters.
A policy team has a different responsibility.
Its job is to take those propositions and determine how they could become operational government policy.
That can create tension within any political party.
A proposal that sounds straightforward in a campaign may become considerably more complicated when officials examine its cost, legal implications and implementation.
The success of a policy operation is therefore difficult to measure from speeches alone. It depends on whether a party can develop coherent proposals that withstand detailed scrutiny.
Orr’s role is significant in that context.
The appointment suggests that Reform recognises the importance of strengthening the intellectual and organisational foundations behind its political programme. It also reflects the party’s attempt to build a larger political operation capable of handling questions that would arise if it gained greater influence.
Yet the language surrounding Orr should not be confused with a prediction.
Saying that someone “will have the ear” of a future prime minister or president assumes a political outcome that has not yet occurred. Elections, leadership contests and changes in public opinion can alter political careers very quickly.
The more immediate and verifiable fact is that Orr has taken a senior policy role within Reform UK.
His influence will ultimately depend on the quality of the proposals he helps develop and on how those proposals are received by the party leadership, Parliament and the electorate.
The international comparison with Vance is also worth watching, but it should be approached carefully.
British politics has its own traditions, institutions and political pressures. Reform may share certain themes with American conservative movements, but that does not mean the two systems will develop in identical directions.
For Orr, the challenge is therefore substantial.
He must help answer a question that every insurgent political movement eventually faces: what happens after the protest?
Reform has already demonstrated its ability to attract attention, challenge established parties and put issues such as immigration and national sovereignty at the centre of political debate.
The next stage requires detailed policy.
That means budgets rather than slogans, legislation rather than campaign speeches and implementation plans rather than broad promises.
If Orr succeeds in helping Reform develop that level of detail, his position could become increasingly important within the party.
But political influence cannot be guaranteed by a job title.
Neither can the future positions of Farage or Vance be assumed.
What can be said with confidence is that Reform UK is investing in policy development at a time when the party is attempting to broaden its political appeal and demonstrate that it can offer more than opposition to the established parties.
James Orr now has a role at the centre of that effort.
Whether his ideas eventually influence national government will depend on political events still to come. For now, his appointment provides another indication that Reform is seeking to transform itself from a movement built around protest and campaigning into an organisation with a more extensive governing programme.