‘Astounding’: Nigel Farage’s Reform UK the most popular party in Britain amid election surge

Added: 2026-05-12

[00:00:00]Joining us now is newsroom editor at Unheard, James Bow. James, thank you so much for your time. It's great to see you again. Let's start with Reform UK.

[00:00:09]Nigel Farage says that he believes a truly historic shift in British politics has occurred after Reform UK won hundreds and hundreds of seats in UK local elections. Let's just listen to him.

[00:00:21]>> But I think overall what's happened is a truly historic shift in British politics. We've been so used to thinking about politics in terms of left and right. And yet what what reform are able to do is to win in areas that have always been conservative, but equally we're proving in a big way we can win in areas that Labor have dominated frankly since the end of World War I.

[00:00:45]>> It's interesting. So he's saying there that this would not be a one-off. Do you agree with him? What do you make of the results over the weekend?

[00:00:54]>> Uh I absolutely do agree with him. This was a historic victory for a lot of reasons, not least because this is the one one of the most successful insurgencies uh ever to have happened in British politics. And I I I don't think that's an exaggeration. What Vrage has accomplished here from a party that has basically come out of nothing in four or 5 years to be now becoming the most popular party in Britain is nothing short of astounding. And there is a question of whether he can rest that control and become a national party. But they are the most popular party in Britain. They are polling in the early 30s, comfortably ahead of the next party. And I think there's every reason to suggest that Nigel Farage could be Britain's next prime minister.

[00:01:34]>> Yeah, I don't think you're wrong there at all. And some lefties are in meltdown over it recording themselves on social media. I'll never understand why people do this, but I've got to show it to you.

[00:01:45]>> Well, no. I'm livid and disappointed.

[00:01:49]and horrified.

[00:01:53]There goes my future.

[00:01:58]There goes my rights.

[00:02:05]>> James, can you help me out? What is it with lefties recording their meltdowns on social media?

[00:02:12]>> So, music from the 2000s as well. I'm not sure what was going on there either, but yeah, I think all I can say is that I'm grateful that it's not these people in charge because they have a fundamental unseriousness about British politics in ways that I think grown-ups in the room don't. And say what you will about Farage and reform. They have put a serious agenda out there that is clearly being very wellreceived by large swaves of the population. For too long, concerns about immigration, >> cost of living, extremism have been going unignored for for for for almost a decade now. And I'm sorry, but the Green Party, which is the nominal representative of all these student reps, are just not doing anything to account for that. So, until that is rebalanced in some way, he will continue to storm ahead.

[00:02:59]>> And it's interesting looking at some of his policies. is this is a controversial one. Promising to open migrant detention centers in green voting areas. Look, it it's fascinating. This one got I think was circulating online a lot. It's getting a lot of headlines, but uh look, he says you might actually get what you vote for.

[00:03:18]>> Mhm. Well, it Yeah, it would be nice to be for the Green Party by the Patard, but again, it's Far is Farage is very similar to Trump in that you never really know what's serious and what's a troll. And there is this question of do you take him literally or do you take him seriously? But broadly speaking, their immigration agenda is by far the most extensive and farreaching out of any party. They they want to deport something like 2 million people by the end of their their term. That's ambitious. I'm not sure they will be able to do that. But again, it's moving the groundwork and it's moving the tectonic plates of this discussion in the rightward direction. So then all the other parties come trading behind. And actually what people seem to forget is K star a Labour prime minister has actually led one of the most right-wing pres sorry right-wing governments in the last 20 years. That is how far the Overton window has shifted. And again I think Vrage played a big part in that.

[00:04:13]>> Let's talk about Karmama. Uh he seems like he's in a fair bit of trouble. This was his take after the disastrous election results for Labor. I think the vast majority of people do understand that we face huge challenges as a country. We've had a series of economic shocks in recent years and there's a very difficult international situation that we face. They know that.

[00:04:37]But they still want their lives to improve. They still want to see the change that we promised. They know the status quo is letting them down and they're frustrated. They don't feel the change.

[00:04:50]Right now, dozens of Labour MPs are calling for his resignation after the party failed to retain multiple seats in the local elections. What's your read on this? How long does he have left?

[00:05:03]>> Uh, I I was originally going to be saying weeks. I now think it could be days. Uh, who knows? By the time this interview airs, it could be game over already. I think the number has already gone up to 80. There are something like three cabinet ministers uh not least his home secretary Shabban Mammud who has already advised the prime minister to start considering a timetable for a departure. Boris Johnson said this in 2022 when the herd moves it moves. And the herd there's no herd more erratic than a British one in Westminster. And the fact is that speech was just classic star. It was leap it sorry it was leap sorry limp, weak and ineffectual. And unfortunately, that is just a perfect summary of his time in office. And I know it's only been 2 years, but he really has condensed 14 years of Tory misrule into two years of labor misrule.

[00:05:50]And again, it's it's this old dualopy that is finally breaking down. And again, it's no wonder to see why people like Farage are storming ahead.

[00:05:59]>> And it's very interesting just as we are seeing people like uh Farage Reform UK uh rising and rising in the UK. Here in Australia, we're witnessing the huge surge in support for One Nation. This political party just won its first lower house seat over the weekend. From where you are, what do you make of what's happening here in Australia? Because I suspect that Australia might not be too far behind Britain uh when it comes to the political landscape and we might just be, you know, a couple of years away from what we're witnessing over there uh to happen right here.

[00:06:33]>> I think that's exactly right. I see a lot of parallels. In fact, this seems to be the very early stages of a reform style insurgency in Australia. Uh because I could be mistaken here, but that wasn't the first picture. I believe there was one in southern Australia as well. Um, and it seems like what One Nation is doing very well is that it's outflanking the liberals on the right because >> what I've seen is that the liberals seem to be governing a bit like the conservatives center right in name only and they pursued net zero co lockdowns >> technocratic managerialism. All these kind of things that we've come to associate with the Tory name I think is now infecting Liberal Party politics in Australia. And again, it's only a matter of time before a right-wing insurgent party exploits that gap on the right and starts capitalizing on it. So, I would not be surprised to see in a few years time if there is a sort of Farage style takeover down in Australia, too.

[00:07:24]>> Yeah, I completely agree with you. I think it's starting right now. And this is interesting. uh a left-wing advocacy group wasted hundreds of thousands of dollars on its anti-nation campaign in Farah uh before the One Nation candidate David Farley stormed to victory over the climate 200 candidate Michelle Milthorp.

[00:07:44]Now during the campaign this left-wing advocacy group called Get Up. Its materials had focused heavily on kind of trying to smear Pauline Hansen and tying her and her party to Trump and the MAGA movement. and it did not work. So all the MAGA and the Trump smears um it's wasted time, wasted money.

[00:08:05]>> Yeah. And there's no point in trying to internationalize these very local elections where people just want breadandbut concerns taken care of. I think there was a get up movement trying to take Tony Abbott out that also backfired about 7 years ago too. And it's this kind of scaremongering, this negative politicking that really does not jive well with the uh British, American or Australian public. And again, you've seen a case in point there. And it's the same thing with the Green Party here and some of their electorate. At the end of the day, they have to defend some extremely wacky policies on the doorstep. I can speak as far as the Green Party here. It's it's drug legalization. It's prostitute legalization. It's not taking the side of police when there is a clear clear uh line of responsibility in that gold is green attack. And again, this kind of thing just does not sit well with the public that just wants to live comfortably and have their bread and butter concerns taken care of.

[00:08:56]>> Absolutely. Look, before I let you go, it is time for our media meltdown segment.

[00:09:05]>> So, even though voters have sent a a clear message with their vote, the leftist media will continue their campaign against Pauline Hansen, labeling her and her party racist.

[00:09:17]Here's the headline for this article by the Sydney Morning Herald. It says, "Australia teeters on the brink of a populist uprising led by a longtime racist and Australia's national broadcaster has had a meltdown over the results. Essentially saying that it could be a dangerous mistake to legitimize One Nation, >> a big and dangerous mistake to legitimize One Nation and to embolden One Nation." I used the term earlier on in the broadcast, the permission structure. If they are able to win their first lower house seat, that begins the process of legitimizing them. And in other electorates where they may run, voters thinking, well, it's happened before. It's normal now. You start normalizing something.

[00:10:02]>> And the meltdowns continued on the ABC.

[00:10:05]This was the commentary from Nikki Sav the next day. So the Liberal Party would be aligning itself with a party which at its core is racist and bigoted.

[00:10:17]>> So James, we actually as taxpayers here in Australia pay for this type of commentary.

[00:10:24]>> I mean I I want to bang my head in despair. I I cannot explain how many other examples there are in Western politics about what not to do when you're trying to deny a party's rise.

[00:10:35]Rule number one, do not call their voters and supporters racists and bigots. That is never going to end well.

[00:10:41]Rule number two, don't try and create this firewall around that party where there won't be kind of any agreements or coalitions because again, you're just incentivizing their sports to rally around it and it creates more momentum and more momentum. We've seen this with the AFD in Germany. We could see a similar thing with reform. The best way is to fight uh sorry to fight these fights with ideas, not insults. And again, without doing that, I can only see this party growing.

[00:11:06]>> No, completely agree. James Bow, newsroom editor at Unheard, thank you so much for joining us. Great to see you again.

[00:11:12]>> Thank you.