Nigel Farage is adept at riding the currents of British politics. When he named Reform after the Canadian party in 2020, it was a statement of intent. Like Preston Manning in the 1990s, he aimed to displace this country’s main centre-right party and refashion it in his image. But where Manning fell short, handing over the reins to Stephen Harper, Farage aims to go one better by becoming prime minister himself.

A keen angler, Farage has spent his few moments of downtime this summer fishing. On one such trip, he took an assembled group of journalists to the English Channel to highlight the small boat crossings. Amid rising discontent, with protests outside asylum seeker hotels, Farage has netted a tidy haul of Tory defectors, including the Welsh MS Laura Anne Jones and London councillor Laila Cunningham. More are expected shortly. As well as new faces joining Reform, there are old ones too. Jack Duffin, a longtime loyalist, is the party’s new director of campaigns.

In a fortnight’s time, Reform will head to Birmingham for its annual conference. ‘The next step’ is this year’s slogan. Aside from the usual pyrotechnics, the event aims to show how much the party has grown in the past year. Reform are trying to form their own quasi–shadow cabinet, with key figures focusing on specific areas. Andrea Jenkyns and Lee Anderson will speak on a broader mix of themes and topics than last year. The party’s long-awaited deportation strategy is expected to be unveiled next week.

The party is currently bolstering its policy team but will adopt an à la carte approach to ideas taken from elsewhere. The influential........

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