Could Farage quit? Questions swirl over Reform UK leader’s future

Reform Weekend Read Composite: Guardian Design; AFP/Getty View image in fullscreen Reform Weekend Read Composite: Guardian Design; AFP/Getty Could Farage quit? Questions swirl over Reform UK leader’s future Farage is under pressure over £5m gift, byelection losses and rise of rival Restore but allies say exit speculation is ‘wishful thinking’ “Of course he’s tired. He’s just done two months campaigning every day on the road, it would be weird if he wasn’t. But that doesn’t mean he’s going to quit,” says one friend of Nigel Farage who has spent time with him in recent weeks. Westminster has been ablaze with rumours that Farage is growing weary in the job of leading Reform UK after the bruising scandal around his decision to accept a £5m gift from the crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne. As he awaits the verdict of the standards watchdog over whether he was right not to declare the cash, Farage has flown to the US to rub shoulders with the Maga elite once again, with sources saying he is back in close contact with the Trump administration. In London, Reform UK’s Millbank HQ is more riven with infighting and jostling for position than usual, amid questions over Farage’s future. There is also anxiety over the party’s recent byelection losses – and its decision to push further towards the hard right to take on the former Reform MP Rupert Lowe’s Restore Britain. Old-time Reformers distrust the former Tories who have joined the party, primarily Robert Jenrick and his team, whom they suspect of plotting to succeed Farage, possibly in the event of a post-election deal with the Tories – something Jenrick denies. Meanwhile, Zia Yusuf, the party’s combative donor and home affairs spokesperson, has spoken of not being picked to stand in byelections, and clashed with Jenrick on social media over the party’s deportation policy. When Reform sources briefed the media that there was a push to get rid of Yusuf for shifting further to the right after the Makerfield byelection loss, the party’s policy chief, James Orr, endorsed a message in support of him, likening his critics to “snakes in the grass”. View image in fullscreen Yusuf, Jenrick and Farage at a press conference in February. Photograph: Guy Bell/Shutterstock At the root of the tensions is the question of who is the likely successor if Farage is unable to politically survive the scrutiny of his finances and wealth-building outside politics. An adverse finding from the watchdog could lead to suspension as an MP for Farage, and possibly a byelection in his Clacton constituency, which he could still fight and win. Labour, the Tories and Restore are all preparing for a contest, while Reform is braced for one. It has hired the veteran journalist Miles Goslett, who helped on a favourable biography of Farage for the Tory donor and pollster Michael Ashcroft, and the party has shaken up its social media operation in recent weeks. At the same time, there is no doubt that Farage has reduced his public profile sin