Nigel Farage has cited a “dynamic” former Liberal Democrat leader as his prime inspiration for electoral and political success over the coming years.
Looking ahead to the 2029 general election, the Reform UK leader claimed his party will soon “replace the Conservatives as the main opposition” and hailed the present moment as one “where epochal political change can happen.”
In terms of his longer term aspirations, Farage pointed to the career of former Lib Dem leader Lord Ashdown.
The former UKIP leader said: “I genuinely think that once every 50/100 years there comes along, whatever the political system, … that moment where sort of epochal political change can happen and I think we’re at that moment right now.”
He added: “I’m following the Paddy Ashdown model. You know, Paddy Ashdown was that dynamic leader of the Lib Dems who understood that until he’d won a significant number of district council seats and county council seats, you weren’t even in the race to win parliamentary election seats or by-election seats.
“That was the model that Ashdown built for the Lib Dems through the 1990s that finally got them into a coalition government in 2010. That is very much the model that we’re following.”
The late Lord Ashdown served as Lib Dem leader from 1988 to 1999 and took his party into into two general elections, in 1992 and 1997. At the 1997 election, the Liberal Democrats won 46 seats, their best performance since the Liberal Party in the 1920s.
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The comments came after Farage unveiled former Conservative minister Dame Andrea Jenkyns as Reform UK’s latest recruit.
Dame Andrea, it was announced, has been selected to stand as Reform’s candidate for the newly created post of mayor of Greater Lincolnshire.
Dame Andrea was elected to parliament in 2015, famously ousting sitting shadow chancellor Ed Balls to take his seat of Morley and Outwood. She went on to serve as education minister in the period after Boris Johnson resigned – a role she continued to occupy during Liz Truss’ brief tenure as prime minister.
The staunch Johnson ally lost her seat at the general election in July, despite having a photo of her with Farage on her election leaflets.
Jenkyns told the Reform press conference on Thursday morning that leaving the Conservative Party was “not an easy decision” and she had “fought to the bitter end” at the general election.
She said: “But the truth is undeniable: the ship is sinking and perhaps, sadly, beyond salvage but enough is enough. It is time to step aboard a movement with vision and purpose and the courage to fight for Britain’s future.”
The news of the defection also came after Zia Yusuf, the Reform UK chairman, announced the party had exceeded a milestone of 100,000 members.
Josh Self is Editor of Politics.co.uk, follow him on Bluesky here.
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