Nigel Farage unveils Reform UK frontbench team and warns over dissent | Reform UK

Nigel Farage has unveiled the first part of Reform UK’s frontline team, saying it shows the party is no longer entirely committed to him, while also warning he will not tolerate any dissent from his colleagues.

Two of the four appointees are recent leavers from the Conservatives: Robert Jenrick, who takes up the Treasury role, and Suella Braverman, whose position Farage is responsible for education, skills and equalities.

Reform deputy leader Richard Tice, who was expected to take on the Treasury role before Jenrick’s arrival, was instead given a combined briefing on business, trade and energy. Zia Yusuf, the party’s policy chief and the only one of the four not sitting in parliament, was given home affairs and immigration briefings.

Farage said the emergence of this team, with more tasks to be announced soon, should put an end to criticism that he was running a “one-man band”.

“This is about creating a machine for the government,” he said, claiming the previous “huge gap” between his own polls and recognition and that of the party had been closed.

Farage said, “If I were hit by a bus tomorrow, Reform has its own brand, Reform has its own identity.” “Reform now has senior characters to run their own departments. I’m extremely proud of that.”

However, he made it very clear that the new appointees could help set policy but that he had the final say. Asked if there was any “internal turmoil” in the division of labour, Farage replied: “That hasn’t been reported to me yet. And if there is? It’s difficult. We’re not bullshitting here. We don’t have time.”

“It’s simple. If people mess up, behave badly, or are unfaithful, we won’t stand for it.”

Asked how he would avoid descending into a Tory-style “psychodrama” in the ranks of Jenrick and Braverman, Farage replied: “It’s very simple. If people mess up, behave badly and are disloyal, they won’t stay here very long.”

This approach was evident in the conduct of the press conference, with the bullish Farage often answering questions on behalf of his colleagues or, in some cases, blocking them from being answered. He dismissed a question from a Financial Times reporter, telling him to “just write a stupid story”.

In terms of policy, Braverman had the most to say, and on his first day in government he announced he would scrap his own equalities brief and repeal the Equality Act.

Regarding education, he condemned the prevalence of liberal ideology in schools and said that instead of the target of 50 percent of young people going to university, this target would be changed to 50 percent of them being trained in professions such as electrician and carpentry.

Jenrick was due to hold his own press conference on Wednesday to announce some details of his economic policy, including that the Reform government will retain the Bank of England’s independence to set interest rates and will not abolish the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).

The aim of these moves will be to reassure investors, as the reform is leading in the polls. But Jenrick would announce changes to the OBR and bring in outside experts to ensure “diversity of opinion”.

Asked whether voters should be suspicious of Reform giving top jobs to two former Conservatives who served in governments that Farage described as appalling failures, the Reform leader said Jenrick and Braverman were different because they had resigned or been “suspended from office”. Braverman was dismissed twice as interior minister.

Farage, whose Conservative Party has set a deadline of May for more asylum seekers to register, said he did not expect more people to take part.

“There are very, very few people left in the front ranks of the Conservative party – almost none – with whom we can be even vaguely interested,” he said.

Labor leader Anna Turley said Farage had unearthed a “senior team of failed Tories”, adding: “They have failed Britain before; they were going to do the same under the Reformation.”

Conservative party chairman Kevin Hollinrake said: “After months of infighting and leaks, Nigel Farage has unveiled a front group dominated by former Tories, a line-up that looks more like a tribute to the old Conservative party than a credible alternative.

“Even now, some are already looking at their next career move, while others who are clearly looking for a promotion are left out in the cold.”