Liberal metropolitan remainer warms to Reform: why I am starting to back the party

I went into this project expecting to find caricatures: loud, intolerant activists with slogans and conspiracy theories. What I encountered over months on the road was more mundane and, in some ways, more revealing. Meeting Reform UK members in towns across England showed me a movement made up largely of ordinary people frustrated with politics — not the caricature of tinfoil-hatted extremists so often painted in national headlines.

The work began after I signed with Swift Press to write a book called The Rise of Reform. I planned to track Nigel Farage’s party as it tried to grow from a disruptive force into a potential governing party. I had urban liberal instincts and no contacts in the party; that combination made me determined to be rigorous and unromantic in my reporting.

How I got inside Reform UK without any contacts

After the contract was signed, the first challenge was simple: I didn’t know anyone in the organization. The second was personal — my own politics skewed pro-EU and metropolitan, the very profile that might have put me at odds with Reform’s messaging. Still, I promised myself a single rule: report what I found rather than fit facts to a pre-existing narrative.

That resolve paid off quickly. Senior figures agreed to long conversations; I expected short interviews, yet some leaders spent an hour or more unpacking their thinking. Those formal sit-downs offered color and context, but the most clarifying moments came from the grassroots.

Walking the streets: what activists actually look like

Days spent canvassing in places like Bootle, Hartlepool, Runcorn and Spalding stripped away assumptions. The volunteers and local candidates I met were overwhelmingly ordinary: often working-class, frequently unpaid, and motivated by disillusionment with mainstream parties. They were not the parade of racists or extremists I’d braced myself for.

Across hundreds of conversations, I rarely heard xenophobic or fascistic rhetoric. Instead I heard grievances about services, a sense of being ignored by Westminster, and anger toward the political class. On more than one occasion, I met activists from ethnic-minority backgrounds and former immigrants who felt at home with Reform’s approach to issues such as community, law and order, and local services.

A personal example that challenged assumptions

One striking encounter was with Ahmed Ibrahim, an Egyptian-born candidate standing in Tower Hamlets. He described coming to Reform sceptically, having written off Nigel Farage on assumptions alone. A few branch meetings changed his mind: he found a practical focus and no sign of the racism he’d feared. His journey from disbelief to membership was a small but telling example of how the party attracts supporters beyond the usual expected base.

What happens on the doorstep: three types of responses

Watching activists knock doors is a quick political field test. People who answered split into three clear groups:

• Enthusiasts: those who welcomed Reform with open or warm support, ready to vote or at least strongly leaning that way.
• Opponents: people who made clear they would never back the party and often expressed that with sharp language.
• Non-voters: individuals who announced, sometimes proudly, that they had stopped participating in elections as a deliberate rejection of the whole political system.

That last group was the most sobering. Their refusal to vote was often a pointed political act: not indifference, but a principled withdrawal. Many told canvassers that all parties were the same and that voting felt pointless.

Anger, targets, and the unexpected lack of Conservative chatter

Anger was a constant, but its focal point surprised me. Much of it was aimed at Labour and its leader, not the Conservatives; in some communities the Conservatives were barely mentioned. Long-time Labour voters, including former trade-union members, described feeling abandoned and unable to reconcile their values with the party’s current direction.

There were also extreme expressions of contempt: in pubs, on doorsteps, and in conversations where people accused political figures of everything short of treason. Activists often endured personal abuse — being called fascists, vulgar insults and worse — and they commonly responded with calm, polite exits. Their composure in the face of hostility struck me as unmistakably British and, to my surprise, quietly dignified.

Why the activists matter beyond policy debates

It’s easy to reduce a party to its policy platform or headline-making leaders. But the people doing the boots-on-the-ground work shape perception more than op-eds and TV segments. Meeting hundreds of volunteers shifted my view: the public face of Reform is often practical, community-focused and, importantly, non-violent.

That does not mean I abandoned my reservations about the party’s policies. I still have questions and concerns about certain proposals. But confusing the grassroots activists with extreme ideologues is a mistake that undermines clear debate and alienates the very voters many journalists are trying to understand.

Key moments and memorable conversations

Some encounters stand out for their humanity rather than their politics. From elderly canvassers giving up weekends to young candidates balancing paid work and campaigning, the story of Reform in small towns is a story about civic effort — often driven by frustration rather than ideology.

In north Wales I heard calls for accountability so intense they bordered on rage; in an impoverished corner of north-west England a lifelong Labour voter explained why he could not go back to the party he once trusted. These personal accounts provide a clearer picture of the social and economic grievances animating support.

Why Makerfield could be a turning point

The upcoming Makerfield by-election feels significant: a chance for Reform to consolidate working-class support and for voters to express realignment away from Labour. There’s also the potential for vote-splitting if other minor parties like Restore make a run, which could alter outcomes in unpredictable ways.

For Reform, winning such contests is about more than one seat; it’s proof of a durable political shift at local levels. Success or failure in these battlegrounds will signal how far the party can scale its grassroots model into national influence.

About the author and the book

Nick Tyrone spent months traveling, interviewing party figures and shadowing local canvassers while researching The Rise of Reform, published by Swift with a release planned for September 2026. His reporting grew out of a deliberate attempt to avoid preconceived judgments and to tell the story of a political movement from the ground up.

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Robert Johnson

Robert Johnson is a dedicated columnist focusing on political and social debates. With twelve years in editorial writing, he provides nuanced, well‑argued perspectives. His commentaries invite you to form your own views and engage in critical issues.