New-look populist Reform party could reshape the UK political landscape

By Elizabeth Piper and Andrew MacAskill

DOVER, England (Reuters) - From a former police station in a small English town, a handful of right-wing campaigners used little more than a WhatsApp group to mount a challenge to the century-long dominance of Britain's big two parties at last year's election.

The ramshackle operation secured the populist Reform UK party the third-biggest vote share and five parliamentary seats. It also convinced its leader, Brexit veteran Nigel Farage, he had to professionalise the party, and fast.

Now a predicted big win for Reform in Thursday's local elections could see it become a credible right-wing force that could overtake the long-dominant Conservatives to become the main challenger to the governing Labour Party at the next national election.

Founded as the Brexit Party in 2018 and written off in its early years as a one-issue party only interested in stoking anger over immigration, Reform is now ahead of Britain's two main parties in some opinion polls. Farage, a friend of Donald Trump, has received a largely warm reception from voters as he tours the areas in England preparing to vote.

Farage says phase one of Reform's sometimes painful transformation is complete. The party is now based in offices in the heart of Westminster close to parliament, and is attracting interest from voters and wealthy donors.

To broaden its appeal, Reform has had to jettison members accused of racism and bullying, and to distance the party from far-right movements in other European nations, such as France's National Rally and Germany's Alternative for Germany.

The party has poached at least 80 former candidates, donors and staff members from the Conservatives, according to Reuters' calculations, after the traditional party of the right suffered its worst result in last year's general election.

But Farage says there is more to do.

Standing in a seafront hotel in the southern port of Dover, he says Reform must build a better ground game with social networks and voter data before the next election due in 2029.

"One of the reasons we need to win a really good number of council seats is so we can build teams of people around elected councillors," Farage told Reuters. Cementing the party in local areas was key to a national victory, he said.

"It's why... this May 1 is such an important moment for us."

POLITICAL REVOLUTION?

Conservative peer and polling expert, Robert Hayward says Reform could gain between 400 and 450 council seats on May 1, the most of any party - a prediction Farage relished but declined to say whether it was one he shared.

"If Hayward is right - if we win that number of seats - then that will be quite a political revolution," he said.

Betting odds suggest Reform will also win the one parliamentary seat that is up for grabs and three of six mayoral elections.

Farage's push to professionalise Reform UK stems from bruising experiences with some of his former parties. Infighting and scandals all but ripped apart his UK Independence Party and Reform's earlier incarnation, the Brexit Party, had to expel some officials over accusations of racism.

He also has tried to broaden the party's policy platform beyond a focus on immigration to show Reform has solutions to Britain's stubborn problems such as an ailing health service and poor economic growth.

But some disillusioned party members say it is a cultish, one-man show.

"Farage is Reform. Reform is Farage," said Ben Habib, a businessman and former senior Reform official, who quit the party in November.

"The grassroots who came to Reform at a time when Reform was nothing and helped put it on the map ... they're the ones who've largely been set aside," he told Reuters.

Farage, alongside Reform chairman, former Goldman Sachs banker Zia Yusuf, has kicked out some members and rejected hundreds of candidates for the local elections "because they said things that were just ridiculous, outrageous, embarrassing". He acknowledges that this "upset some people".

Their decision to suspend one of their five lawmakers in parliament - Rupert Lowe - over allegations of threats of "physical violence" to Yusuf and bullying in his office has also drawn criticism from some Reform members. Lowe denies any wrongdoing.

DONORS

Farage credits the professionalisation of the party, and the bringing in of a new treasurer, property developer and former Conservative donor, Nick Candy, for increasing its financial firepower.

Reform says it has 225,000 members who pay 25 pounds ($33) or 10 pounds if they are under 25, to join, although critics note that new recruits' identities are not necessarily authenticated.

Candy has been joined by former Conservative donors, such as hedge fund manager David Lilley and Roger Nagioff, a former banker at Lehman Brothers, in giving money to Reform.

Farage counts Conservative supporter Anthony Bamford, chair of construction machinery maker JCB, as a friend and even rode one of his pothole-fixing machines to launch Reform's local election campaign, but he has yet to convince him to switch sides.

Another wealthy donor who has given hundreds of thousands of pounds to the Conservatives, said one way forward for Britain's right could be a political merger.

    "We are not going to fund two political parties," he said. "Reform have a long way to go in developing a coherent set of policies, but they look impressive."

(Reporting by Elizabeth Piper and Andrew MacAskill; Editing by Ros Russell)