Reform UK is facing a deepening internal conflict, with tensions that have been building since Robert Jenrick's defection now boiling over. The latest flashpoint came late on Monday when Tim Montgomerie, who joined Reform from the Conservatives two years ago, was suspended following his public criticism of Nigel Farage and the party's home affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf.
Suspension sparks fresh bloodletting
Farage was away at the time and did not know that Tom Waterhouse, Reform's general secretary, and Lee Anderson, the party chairman, were going to suspend Montgomerie. The decision came between the recording and broadcast of an interview Montgomerie gave to The Spectator.
In the interview, Montgomerie rebuked Yusuf for acting like "a child" and slammed him for "intemperate" use of social media. He warned: "A lot of people are on not-speaking terms with Zia, and it's nearly always Zia who initiates it. It needs to end."
Simmering tensions come to the boil
A source told this week that anger, simmering since Jenrick's bombshell defection in January, is now intensifying. Intense pressure over Farage's donations has added to a volatile cocktail, they said.
"Until Jenrick it was a pretty happy ship, plain sailing. We were on the rise and it felt unstoppable," the source said. "But tensions have been growing since then. Zia has always been hugely sceptical of Conservatives. He also doesn't like being criticised in such a public manner. Then you have the donations stuff and it just creates a very volatile cocktail."
Party urged to keep disputes behind closed doors
Richard Tice warned party members to air their differences behind closed doors when he was confronted about the "civil war" during a press conference on Thursday.
"We're a fast-growing political party," he said. "There'll be a range of views, and sometimes we'll agree, and sometimes we'll have a debate and discussion. That's what you do in business. That's what you do in a boardroom. That's what you do when you're brainstorming. But what we've always said is that actually, when you are having your discussions about those things, in the nicest possible way, as you would in a boardroom or in a brainstorming session in a company, you keep it behind closed doors, and then you go out and sell a great message."
The turmoil sets the stage for Reform's annual conference at Birmingham's NEC in a fortnight's time, with one more week of parliamentary recess remaining before then.
