What are Reform's policies and can it really win an election?
Nigel Farage says right wing party is preparing for an election soon
Reform has unveiled its notional cabinet positions as the party leader Nigel Farage seeks for his party to be the de facto opposition to the government.
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Robert Jenrick, Suella Braverman and Nadhim Zahawi were among the ex Tories to have been unveiled in the right-wing party’s top team - which is wanting to challenge Labour.
Mr Farage has called them his "shadow cabinet" despite the Conservative Party, being led by Kemi Badenoch, forming HM Opposition.
"Given that our average lead is between nine and 10 per cent in the country, we are the voice of opposition to this government," Mr Farage said.
He has welcomed a glut of Tory exiles to his party, including former members of the government, who have served under Boris Johnson and Liz Truss.
There have been rumours that even more Conservatives could make the move, although Mr Farage has said that the door to defections will be closed after the local elections on May 7.
Ms Badenoch criticised the former Tories who had aligned themselves with Reform, claiming they were doing "the easy thing when the Conservative Party is not doing well".
She told LBC's Iain Dale: "What we are seeing right now with a lot of these defections are people that are running away rather than solving these issues. I'm not somebody who runs away from difficult problems."
Here is all there is to know about Reform UK.
What is Reform UK?
Reform is a right-wing populist party led by Nigel Farage which was originally founded as the Brexit Party in 2018 on the ideals of leaving the European Union without a deal.
After the UK did leave the EU, the Brexit Party took its current name and Mr Farage took over from the initial leader Catherine Blaiklock in 2020 but resigned a year later to be replaced by Richard Tice. In 2024, Mr Tice then invited Mr Farage back as leader, and he has now been at the helm twice without winning a leadership election.
Reform has taken the space to the right of the Conservative Party in the British political spectrum which was once held by the still operational, but now in decline UK Independence Party (UKIP), of which Mr Farage was a former leader.
The party grew up to the 2024 general election, which saw it win its first five seats, and beyond with defecting Tories bumping its House of Commons members up to eight.
Reform now additionally leads 12 councils and is looking to add to its growing influence by challenging Labour once more at the Gorton and Denton by-election.
It had 268,000 members as of December 2025.
Who is in Reform?
There are now eight Reform MPs. Nigel Farage and deputy leader Richard Tice were two of the five members elected to the Commons in 2024, the others being Lee Anderson, James McMurdock, and Ruper Lowe - although the latter two have both now left Reform.
The initial intake has been bolstered by a number of defections, however and ex Tories to have joined are Suella Braverman, Danny Kruger, Robert Jenrick, and Andrew Rosindell. Sarah Pochin won her Runcorn and Helsby seat in a by-election last year.
"We've replaced the old fuddy-duddy existing Conservative Party with a new force on the centre-right, that's got a bit more energy, a bit more enthusiasm, a little bit more fire," Mr Farage said.
Conservative and Labour voices have been quick to criticise the number of former Tories to have signed up.
"Reform is fast becoming the party of has-been politicians looking for their next gravy train,” a Tory spokesman said. “Their latest recruit used to say he'd be 'frightened to live in a country' run by Nigel Farage, which shows the level of loyalty for sale."
A Labour source added: "How do we know that Reform would decimate public services and make people poorer? Because it's full of the same old failed Tories that did it all before. You simply can't trust them."
What are Reform’s policies?
Here are a few of the policies that Reform have said they will endorse:
Speaking to Tom Swarbrick at Drive, Mr Tice confirmed his party would get rid of the department in a move threatening to put thousands of jobs at risk. "When we win the general election, that department will [be] gone," he told LBC.
Robert Jenrick has said that Reform would bring back the controversial two-child benefit cap, despite having voted against this action the week before by accident.
He said the party would “restore the cap in full” during the speech, despite Nigel Farage previously insisting that he would lift the two-child cap.
Mr Jenrick has planned to not abolish the OBR, instead promising “reform”, and will say the Bank would remain independent if he were in No 11.
“The OBR is far from perfect but the impetus for its creation was a desire to instil fiscal discipline, and that is something we wholeheartedly endorse,” he said.
Ms Braverman has vowed to deliver a "patriotic and balanced curriculum" and also pledged to end any gender transitioning within schools.
She said: “Social and gender transitioning will be absolutely banned in all schools - no ifs, no buts. Meanwhile, too many of our universities are failing our young people.”
Is a Reform government possible?
Latest polling from YouGov has Reform at 24 per cent, ahead of Labour and the Conservative parties, which are both at around 18 per cent.
Mr Farage has said Reform is now planning for an imminent election.
“I do today put this party on a general election war footing,” he said on February 9.
LBC’s Natasha Clark said: “The party is, for now, riding high in the polls and is not seeing any downsides to welcoming in unpopular Tories.
“Some polls have shown a slight drop in support, and some commentators think the party may have reached its peak.
“As with the Brexit Party and UKIP before it, Mr Farage's attempts to turn populist parties into reality continue to prove a big mountain to climb.”