Former Deputy Leader of Reform UK, Ben Habib, has delivered a scathing verdict of the party after leader Nigel Farage replaced him with Richard Tice.
Writing in the Sunday Times after being fired from Reform UK, Habib expressed concern for the party's leadership and claimed it "should not be controlled by one man", Farage.
Speaking to GB News, Habib affirmed he has "no revolt" towards Farage and Reform UK, but stressed that they have a "debt of gratitude to the British people" after their election victory.
When asked how he feels about being replaced by Tice, Habib claimed he "doesn't care whether he's deputy leader or not", but is worried about Reform lacking "democratisation".
Former Deputy Leader of Reform UK has claimed the party needs 'democratisation' after being fired
GB News / PA
Habib told host Martin Daubney: "I asked for the democratisation of the party before I signed up in March 2023. That was refused, and Richard very kindly wrote me a letter effectively affirming a few critical points.
"That we would stand against all the Tories across the country, and that we would work in a consensual manner."
Reacting to the millions of voters who turned out to support Farage and the party, Habib claimed that he'd warned Tice that they needed to "move to democratisation" in order to avoid a "democratic deficit" in Parliament.
Habib explained: "You can't create a movement of people and then champion those people without promoting the democratic unit that is the United Kingdom - making the arguments for the sovereignty of the UK through our democratic Parliament, and yet have a massive democratic deficit ourselves.
Nigel Farage became the new MP for Clacton after securing over 20,000 votes in the General Election
PA
"The party at the moment is structured as a limited liability company with 15 shares, eight of which are owned by Nigel and five owned by Richard."
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Criticising the structure of Reform UK, Habib hit out at Farage's "complete control" of the party, which is essentially a "private limited party".
Habib fumed: "The eight out of 15 shares are over 50 per cent, and that gives Nigel basically complete control of the private limited party. That worked very well as an insurgent party getting it on the map, but now we have an obligation to the 4.1 million people who voted for us.
"There are many people out there who would have also voted for us if they hadn't been scared by the Tories, lying that we would split the Conservative vote."
Warning the Reform UK party about their future in Parliament, Habib stated that unless Farage is "serious" about becoming a stronger presence in Government, they "must democratise".
Habib assured host Martin Daubney that him speaking out is 'not a revolt' against the party
GB News
Habib told Martin: "If Nigel is serious, and I hope he is, about Reform becoming the Government in 2029, we've got to democratise before we get to 2029.
"Can you imagine fighting an election to become the Government of the country when one man owns or controls the party? It's untenable."
Defending his reaction to being let go from the party, Habib assured his speaking out is "not a knee-jerk reaction" and claimed he would "do any task that Nigel asks me to do" to support Reform UK going forward.
Habib stated: "This is not a civil war, this has got no revolt - I love all the policies for which Reform stood on in the General Election.
"What I want to do is make sure that Reform UK, where I with Richard created that movement, has every opportunity to be a principled party with integrity that can win that general election in 2029."
