Nigel Farage has introduced the first-ever Reform Party ‘shadow cabinet,’ appointing former Tory minister Robert Jenrick to a significant position.
Jenrick, who made the switch from the Conservative Party to Reform just last month, has been positioned as Reform’s ‘shadow chancellor,’ set to challenge current Chancellor Rachel Reeves.
This morning also saw the announcement of three additional roles. Skegness MP and former leader Richard Tice is poised to become deputy prime minister if Reform secures victory in the upcoming election.
Tice would also oversee a ‘super department’ that combines business, trade, and energy sectors.
Zia Yusuf, the party chairman whose parents immigrated to the UK, has been named ‘shadow home secretary.’ His responsibilities will focus on issues of legal and illegal migration, even though he is not one of Reform’s eight MPs nor a member of the House of Lords.
Additionally, Suella Braverman, another former Tory who has joined Reform, will serve as the spokeswoman for education and equalities. She has already stated her intention to abolish the role of equalities minister should Reform come to power.
Mr Farage has been facing calls to sort out a proper frontbench team, now he fronts a team of eight MPs, to knock down claims he is the leader of a one-man-band.
He admitted today that Reform needed the ‘experience’ brought to his team by former Tories.
Mr Jenrick was previously a Cabinet minister as Housing Secretary under Boris Johnson and was Conservative shadow justice secretary until he jumped ship.
Mr Jenrick, who defected to Reform from the Conservatives last month, has been linked with the party’s treasury role, shadowing Chancellor Rachel Reeves
Mr Farage has been facing calls to sort out a proper frontbench team, now he fronts a team of eight MPs, to knock down claims he is the leader of a one-man-band
Party chairman Zia Yusuf, whose parents were immigrants, was unveiled as ‘shadow home secretary’ with a brief to tackle legal and illegal migration, despite not being one of Reform’s eight MPs or a member of the House of Lords
But his only Treasury experience was an 18-month stint as Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, the most junior minister, under Theresa May.
Today he thanked Farage for allowing him to oppose Rachel Reeves, labelling her an economic ‘wrecking ball’.
He said Reform would put together ‘the most comprehensive plan of any political party’ to ‘fix Britain’s broken economy’.
He is not the official shadow chancellor, as that role is held by the Conservatives’ Mel Stride. And the same is true of his fellow frontbenchers.
But smaller parties have previously labelled their frontbench teams the ‘shadow cabinet’, including the Liberal Democrats and the SNP.
Mr Farage told the audience in London that Reform was now ‘the real opposition to Labour’.
Mr Yusuf said ‘more people have turned up on our beaches uninvited in the last seven years than stormed the beaches of Normandy on D-Day.’
Mr Yusuf said: ‘Those people, instead of being detained and deported, have been given free accommodation, free meals, free access to healthcare, free taxis, free leisure activities at the expense of the British people, to the tune of tens of billions of pounds every single year.’
Skegness MP and former Reform leader Richard Tice in line to be deputy prime minister if Reform wins the next election
Mr Jenrick’s fellow Tory turncoat Suella Braverman has taken on a role as education and equalities spokeswoman
He described the situation as the ‘the most profound betrayal of the British electorate in history’.
He added: ‘If you are in this country illegally right now and you are watching this, I want to be crystal clear: as Reform’s home secretary, I will ensure that you are deported from these lands.’
Mr Tice said the party would create a new ‘super department’ in Government with an aim of getting growth of up to 4 per cent.
Mr Tice, who is the party’s deputy leader, said the party would focus on using oil and gas to help boost the economy and would abandon net-zero targets.
He said the party would also create a ‘serious’ British wealth fund.
Mr Tice said: ‘If we achieve those things then we can reindustrialise Britain, we can reenergise Britain, we can renew Britain and yes, we can rebuild Britain. These are absolutely essential to create growth.’
But Conservative chairman Kevin Hollinrake said: ‘After months of infighting and leaks, Nigel Farage has unveiled a front bench dominated by ex-Conservatives – a line-up that looks more like a tribute act to the old Conservative Party than a credible alternative.’
It comes as a new poll today suggested Reform’s poll lead has been cut to just five points.
YouGov had Farage’s party on 24 per cent, down three points in a week. Labour and the Tories are unchanged on 19 per cent and 18 per cent respectively, with the Greens up a point on 17 per cent.
