Nigel Farage knows he has a problem: he’s never been very good at playing nicely with others.

The Reform UK leader points out indignantly that some of his backroom staff have been working for him for decades. One loyal aide literally dropped out of his A-levels to join Team Farage.

But when it comes to his fellow politicians, the veteran right-winger has been less good at sharing the limelight.

He has had very public bust-ups with the likes of Douglas Carswell (in the Ukip years), John Longworth (during the Brexit Party’s rise and fall) and Rupert Lowe (one of the Reform MPs elected in 2024). None of those who were ever touted as having the potential to succeed Farage are still at his side.

The announcement of Reform’s first “shadow cabinet” appointments was designed to change this. Farage explicitly said that the event was designed to prove that the party is not a “one-man band” – he added: “if I was hit by a bus tomorrow, Reform has its own brand, Reform has its own identity.”

Fine words, and surely what Reform needs if it is to gain credibility as a party of government at the next general election, which Farage himself claims is “almost certain” to come next year, not in 2029 as most Westminster observers expect.

We do not have a presidential system: a British prime minister can govern only with the loyal support of two dozen people in their Cabinet, 100 ministers in total, and at least 320-odd MPs to support their policies in Parliament. As Sir Keir Starmer has found, not having all of these is a recipe for chaos.

Farage’s political parties have always failed – this is why it’s different now

Debate still rages over whether Reform is at risk of letting in too many washed up ex-Conservatives. But the great advantage of the defections, as Farage rightly says, is that they create a sense of the party as a much broader outfit, including people such as Robert Jenrick and Suella Braverman who – love them or hate them – undoubtedly bring to Reform their experience and name recognition.

Unfortunately for him, though, Farage’s “shadow cabinet” launch only proved that he is not yet ready to give up any real power.

Leave aside the fact that Richard Tice, the politician most loyal to the party leader in recent years, has been rewarded for his service with a more junior role, business, trade and energy, than the Reform “shadow chancellor” job he craved. Ignore the falling-out that the leader had last year with Zia Yusuf, now back in the fold as home affairs spokesman – and never mind that Jenrick and Braverman, who take on “chancellor” and education roles respectively, have only been with Reform a matter of weeks.

The real problem for Farage is that even with his four “big beasts” on stage with him, at an event explicitly intended to show that he is team player, he could not resist stepping into their spotlight.

The leader personally answered every one of the 25 media questions, including those explicitly directed at one of his colleagues – although sometimes he did allow them to supplement his responses with one of their own. He would not let Jenrick answer any questions about his economic policy plans, and he shut down an attempt to get all four to say whether or not they support children getting the MMR jab.

Farage boasted that he “will not tolerate dissent” in the party, and, asked what his message would be to any Reform members unhappy with the number of ex-Tories in the team, he replied simply: “Tough.”

Of course party discipline is important – a lesson Reform needs to learn from both the Conservatives and Labour, whose terms in office have been marred by constant infighting. It is reasonable for Farage to ensure that his troops stay on message.

But he is going too far. Making a man with no government experience and just a few years in Parliament prime minister is enough of a gamble anyway without knowing that he would seek to stamp his own personality over every aspect of his administration. Good management skills are sorely lacking in Whitehall and there is no evidence Farage currently has a plan to change that.

There is still time. Despite what he says, it is likely that the general election is more than three years away. As his frontbenchers bed in, they may gain more confidence to stand up to their leader and generate the creative friction needed to form a good operation.

Right now, however, things are looking unpromising. Farage still cannot share power.

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