Reform leader Nigel Farage has revealed he will relinquish ownership of the party ahead of this weekend’s conference.
Unlike most political parties, the Reform Party Established as a private limited company, Farage holds a majority stake.
He said this was done to accelerate the formation of the Brexit Party (now known as the Reform UK Party) in time to win the 2019 European elections.
He told BBC Radio Kent that the corporate structure also enabled him to “stop the party being hijacked by bad actors”.
The Clacton MP will remain as leader of Reform UK but said: “I no longer need to control the Reform Party so I will be giving up all my shares.”
Farage told BBC Southampton he planned to lead the party into the next election, when he will be 65, unless “someone prettier and smarter” comes along.
Two months after the election of its first MPs, Reform UK plans to make major changes to the way it operates at the Birmingham conference, with Farage claiming he “puts ownership of the party and major decisions in the hands of members”.
For the first time, members will be able to vote on policy motions, including adopting a new party constitution, which sets out the party’s rules and leadership’s responsibilities.
reform Won 14% of the vote in the July election and has a seat in parliament, with five MPs including Farage.
Farage announced he would return as party leader during the election campaign, something he would not have been able to do in a party with a more traditional structure, where leaders are often elected by members.
Under the proposed new UK reform constitution, members would be able to remove Farage or any other party leader through a vote of no confidence.
A vote can be triggered if 50% of members write to the chairman requesting a motion of no confidence.
They can also force a vote if 50 or 50% of the reform MPs write to the chairperson requesting a vote. But this only applies if there are more than 100 reformist MPs in parliament – a high threshold.
Zia Yusuf, Chairman of Reform UK, Claims the party’s membership has increased by 15,000 since the election result.
He told the BBC that membership had “swelled” to more than 80,000 and the party was trying to build a loyal activist base.
He said he “wouldn’t be surprised” if the Reform Party outnumbered the Conservatives in membership in the coming months.
Yusuf, a millionaire and former banker who was appointed chairman in July, said the party had shown “tremendous enthusiasm” since the election.
“So what we need to do now is build the infrastructure at the grassroots level so that enthusiasm can translate at the ballot box.”
The Conservative Party does not publish its membership numbers. But in the most recent 2022 Conservative leadership race, more than 140,000 party members took part in the election, with a turnout of 82%.
Attracting new members is part of the Reform Party’s plan to develop a stronger party and campaign machinery to compete with its political rivals.
Youssef is leading a process to establish hundreds of local reform branches across the UK and expand the ranks of campaigners.
