‘Reform is a Buzzword for Change’: Dealing with the Rise of the Third Party

Earning over twelve per-cent of the vote share and seventy-two seats, the 2024 General Election was a groundbreaking campaign for the Liberal Democrats. Yet, on the fringes of the morning headlines, another party would enter the House of Commons with fourteen per-cent of the vote share but only five seats. Nigel Farage’s claim to deliver a ‘political revolt’ had materialised, albeit not to the scale – of thirteen seats – projected by political bookmakers. Irrespective of expectation versus reality, Reform UK’s electoral success has given the Party, and its outspoken members, a voice – one that threatens to gain traction amidst wider political disillusionment and apathy with the mainstream parties. In the face of this threat, Conservative and Unionists are left with two choices: adapt and bring the third party on-board, or risk losing our title as the most successful political party in global history.

The appeal of the third party is the root of Reform UK’s threat against modern conservatism. As a living embodiment of change against the status quo, Reform UK has been able to capitalise on growing frustration with the British political establishment. Whether on immigration, taxation or national identity, nowhere has this attachment been more clearly visible – or audible – than through Reform UK’s primary spokesman and mouthpiece – Nigel Farage. His bold declaration on Question Time that ‘nothing in Britain works anymore’ is testament to popular attitudes towards fourteen years of Conservative government and the failure for Conservative rhetoric to correlate with political action. We can shout claims of being ‘the fastest growing economy in the G7’ as much as we want at the dispatch box but our persistent failure to deliver material changes in areas of immigration, taxation and the cost-of-living raises questions over what the Party actually stands for – or indeed if it is capable of standing for anything at all.

Farage is not new to capitalising on these failures – we essentially hand him his political narrative like the audience to a comedy show handing the comedian his own material. We have always known his voice to be dangerous when he was outside the Commons; his voice is now dangerous within the Commons – able to strike at the heart of the British political establishment. As a popular and established figure, Farage is the amp to the grungy rock music of political discontent across the United Kingdom – the problem is figuring out how to unplug him. Yet even the amp cannot function without electricity; as the third-party Farage and Reform UK are the option that aren’t the Conservatives or Labour. ‘Reform’ is a buzzword for change; until the Conservatives are able to embody this change once again it will continue to serve as the vehicle for the protest vote. With its membership surpassing the Conservative Party at two hundred and eleven thousand and its comfortable presence in local councils across the country, there is little hope in this vehicle coming to a stop anytime soon.

So what is to be done? In the words of our recently elected and most glorious leader Kemi Badenoch, we must ‘renew’ (2030). Yet contrary to what Badenoch, or indeed any of the other candidates for Leader of the Conservative Party at the 2024 Conference, would have us believe the threat posed by Reform is existential and not one that can be disguised or pushed away by an official party narrative. With fourteen percent of the vote in 2024, Reform was third by total vote share. Compared to our own nineteen percent drop in the vote, partly on account of internalised apathy from our own party members, recovery of the right wing is vital to ensuring a broad-church, momentum-infused Conservative Party can operate credibly in the face of Labour opposition government. After the disaster – and I’m certain to call it a disaster – of 2024, we must reclaim our place as the voice of the right backed by a cohesive and achievable set of policy aims to even begin to imagine our own stepping through the threshold of that black door once again.

That begins by reclaiming our grip on the megaphone of the right-wing narrative. Now, in the trial of soundbites Farage is judge, jury and executioner – his oratory strength has, and will always, rely on his ability to produce soundbites. In short, punch without much policy. Where we might step in, is in dismantling these soundbites with logic. Farage’s policies lack substance and, although appealing to the popular ear, lack the ability to stand up to scrutiny when pressed. We might not be able to beat how he says things, but we might stand up to what it is he says. This narrative shortfall is extended to the wider party. Compared to our own two hundred year, and if you include the Tories a couple centuries more, history Reform has a distinct lack of parliamentary experience. Coupled with the relative obscurity of its members in the House, they haven’t had chance to forge a name for themselves yet – or even establish the Party on more than a single-issue platform.

Of course, change is not incompatible with conservatism – nor is Reform. From a Commons membership perspective, prominent names like James McMurdock are demonstrating a connection with their constituents and contrary to the Conservative leadership would be excellent candidates to embody our movement. Similar acknowledgement of Reform’s platform and their capacity as the vehicle of right-wing grievance, much unlike the Prime Minister’s shrugging of ‘right-wing thugs’, might help connect conservatism with those who have felt strongly abandoned over the last fourteen years. After all, we of all people are most familiar with being ignored and arguably the most keen on listening to others to form a plurality of opinion. This dual renewal of the party and wider conservative movement would resow the grassroots that underpin our Party. Coupled with an understanding of loyalty to Badenoch as party leader, something we may have forgotten recently, we have an opportunity to undertake some basic subtraction and minus one party from the political scene.

To end on a brief note, as Badenoch has made clear she is an ‘engineer.’ Politics is about engineering; diagnosing problems and finding solutions to them. The rise of Reform UK – the ‘third-party’ problem – represents a vital challenge to the Conservative Party and conservatism in the United Kingdom as a whole. The solution to this problem lies not in one place but many, and it is our choice as to which we follow. But in the context of the 2024 Summer Riots and growing threats to our national existence both domestically through our economic stagnation and externally from Russia, China and now our closest ally, the status quo simply cannot be. If ‘reform’ is a buzzword for change, then ‘conservatism’ must become a buzzword for hope, betterment and most importantly – and perhaps paradoxically – a brighter, better future.

Dylan Turner is a second-year undergraduate reading History at Merton College.