Nigel Farage is deeply serious in his ambitions to become Prime Minister and his comrades in Reform UK are intent on building a party that will last long into the future, according to the veteran Brexiteer’s latest biographer, Lord Ashcroft. The billionaire entrepreneur, philanthropist and author has turned his gaze on Mr Farage, whose latest party has topped the polls since April last year – fuelling the panic in Labour circles which has forced Sir Keir Starmer to quit.
Ashcroft Predicts Post-Election Deal
His new work – The Farage Factor: Reform UK and the Remaking of British Politics – delves into the quiet revolution unfolding in our democracy. Despite Tory leader Kemi Badenoch ruling out a deal with Reform, Lord Ashcroft, a former deputy chairman and treasurer of the Conservatives, argues the two parties would find a post-election partnership “hard to resist” if it would deny Labour another term in power. He is “more certain than ever” that Mr Farage would be prepared to strike a deal.
His motivation for writing the biography is simple: “He’s been a fixture in British politics for 30 years, I know him personally, and few would deny that he’s probably the most consequential politician of our age.”
His other books include headline-generating biographies of David Cameron and Angela Rayner but the Reform leader did not try to stop the retired Conservative peer digging into his life story. “He was very relaxed about it,” he says. “I think he quite likes attention.”
Farage Not Far Right, Says Biographer
Mr Farage may welcome Lord Ashcroft’s conclusion that it is wrong to see him as a politician far beyond the mainstream. “He’s been labelled ‘far Right’ by lots of people when in many cases what he’s advocated are small-c conservative, common sense ideas,” he argues. “Many ‘old’ Labour supporters, who are often very socially conservative, back him.”
Mr Farage contributed to Boris Johnson’s 2019 landslide by standing down Brexit Party candidates in Tory-held seats. Should the Conservatives have thanked him by putting him in the House of Lords? “I’m not convinced Nigel would have wanted a peerage but he’s always said his sacrifice was never acknowledged,” Lord Ashcroft remarks. “If true, that was careless.”
Reality TV and Younger Audiences
Far from fading out of sight once the UK left the EU, Mr Farage entered the world of reality television – a domain where Donald Trump won millions of fans – by heading into the jungle as a contestant on I’m A Celebrity. “He did it to connect with younger audiences and I’m sure he succeeded to some extent,” the peer explains. “Even now, people still mention it in my research. It made a lot of people warm to him.”
So, if Lord Ashcroft was a young man today, would he join Reform or the Conservatives? “I’ve been drawn to Kemi’s principled, straight-talking approach, and I think that would be the same however young I was,” he says. “But I can see why people are looking for an alternative like Reform and why they feel let down by the established parties. Her challenge is to show that the Tories have changed more than just their leader.”
Pact Unlikely Before Election
He considers a pre-election pact between the two parties “extremely unlikely and probably unwise,” noting: “My polling shows some of each party’s voters would be put off by it, especially on the Tory side. After the election, if it’s a choice between some kind of deal or another Labour term, I’m sure both parties would find it hard to resist.”
Writing this biography, he says, has left him “more certain than ever that Nigel Farage would be prepared to do a deal with the Conservatives should that become necessary”. He claims the two parties are “now a lot closer together” in the polls if people are asked how likely it is they would vote for a party at the next election, rather than asking what they would do “in an imaginary election tomorrow”. “We’ll see how things play out over the next few months, but I don’t think the story is over yet,” he says.
Reform UK's Future Without Farage
A key question in Westminster circles is whether Reform would survive if Mr Farage was not at the helm, and who could succeed him. His research suggests potential Home Secretary Zia Yusuf and deputy leader Richard Tice are the two most popular choices with members. “In my poll last month I asked Reform members who they would want, and the answer was Zia Yusuf by a whisker,” he says. “I’ve been told that Richard Tice, who was a close second, would actually succeed if, for some reason, Nigel stood down.”
Mr Farage, he states, is “serious about being prime minister,” adding: “While working on the book, it was clear to me that those within Reform UK want to build a party that will last long into the future. That’s a difficult thing to do but they seem pretty determined to do it.”
Lord Ashcroft's Broader Interests
Politics is far from the 80-year-old’s only passion. He is fascinated by bravery – an interest that can be traced back to stories told to him by his father, Eric, who took part in the D-Day landings. Chichester-born Lord Ashcroft spent part of his childhood in Malawi and Belize, where his father worked as a colonial officer and he briefly managed a rock band called Trident after studying business at what is now Anglia Ruskin University.
Looking back on his foray into the music business, he says he learned the core truth that in order to make money revenues have to exceed expenses. But most of all, he discovered that “being the manager of a rock band was not going to be my long-term career”. Instead, he bought and turned around a loss-making cleaning business and this set the course for a lifetime of ventures in areas as diverse as car sales, security and pharmaceutical packaging.
The international businessman has amassed one of the world’s greatest collections of Victoria Crosses and was the major donor behind London’s Bomber Command memorial. “I think it is vital to educate our young people about the quality of courage,” he says. “I look upon the recipients of the Victoria Cross as ‘the bravest of the brave’ whose stories should be told far and wide.”
He is a regular visitor to Ukraine and an ardent supporter of the country, both as a philanthropist and as a campaigner, as it battles Vladimir Putin’s forces. His contribution was recognised this year when he was awarded Ukraine’s Honorary Cross of Merit – and in 2024 when he was sanctioned by Russia. In this country, he founded Crimestoppers UK which allows people to report crimes in total anonymity, and he sounded the alarm on the state of the NHS in his book Life Support.
Advice for the Chancellor
Lord Ashcroft has plenty of advice for the Chancellor on how to revive the economy: “Control spending and reform welfare so we can cut taxes and borrowing. Drop the net zero obsession. Get energy costs down. Lift the ban on new North Sea drilling. Make it easier to employ people, not more expensive… Her employers’ National Insurance hike was a terrible start and it didn’t get any better.”
A Labour Chancellor is unlikely to thank him for his counsel but it is clear he believes Britain’s fortunes can be turned around. He may have turned away from a career in music but he delights in rocking the status quo.
