Nigel Farage has conceded that Reform UK is not yet prepared to govern Britain, admitting the party is only “halfway ready” to take power. Speaking on the BBC programme Reform: Ready to Rule?, the Reform UK leader acknowledged that despite months of polling leads and the arrival of several former Conservative cabinet ministers, the party would not be equipped to run the country at present.
His remarks come as recent surveys suggest public confidence in Reform’s readiness has dipped slightly. An Ipsos poll found that just a quarter of Britons believe the party is ready to form the next government, while 58 per cent disagree – a marginal worsening from September 2025, when 53 per cent disagreed. Despite this, Reform UK still holds an eight-point lead nationally.
At his party conference last September, Mr Farage pledged to intensify preparations, announcing the creation of a department for the preparation of government and appointing Zia Yusuf as head of policy. He said the next national election could come as early as 2027 rather than 2029, and insisted the party must be ready to govern at any time. A Reform UK-affiliated website, using the domain “preparingforgovernment”, states the party is “set to form the next government” and is seeking people to help prepare for that moment.
Asked by presenter Laura Kuenssberg whether recent defections from high-profile Conservatives such as Robert Jenrick and Suella Braverman had made Reform UK the “home for Tories who messed up”, Mr Farage conceded that those figures had indeed “lost the argument in their own party”. He added: “That is why they're coming to us, and why the centre right of British politics is uniting around Reform.”
Meanwhile, the party is seeking another parliamentary seat in the highly contested by-election in Gorton and Denton, following the resignation of former Labour MP Andrew Gwynne. Reform UK is seen as a potential challenger in the seat, which Labour retained with 51 per cent of the vote in 2024.
