Farage urges 'People's Army' to mobilise ahead of Reform's 'big test of fire'

Responding to Zia Yusuf's Reform revamp, Farage stressed "amateurism" let Reform UK down on July 4.

Farage's efforts, much decried by former deputy leader Ben Habib, include provisions for Reform UK members and MPs to remove the leader if Yusuf is inundated with discontent from disgruntled members or MPs.

He said: "Not only am I giving you the shares of the party. I'm actually giving you the responsibility for making this a success. Whatever we do."

Farage added: "We will not realise our dream unless the People's Army of supporters are organised.

"Unless the People's Army of supporters are helped to professionalise.

"Unless that People's Army fights elections not just as a paper name on the ballot, but with the intention of winning as many seats as we can."

Farage later turned his attention to local elections in 2025 as the first major challenge over the horizon for the populist party.

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He said: "We must take the English County Council Elections next year, plus areas like Doncaster and areas like Thurrock where district councils are up.

"Our first big test of fire comes on the first Thursday in May next year.

"We are going to need over 2,000 candidates, we're going to need you organised behind them, helping them.

"I genuinely believe that if we get next May right we can produce a result that is truly astonishing."

Farage predicted Reform UK could return hundreds of councillors with the right campaign strategy, adding: "The opportunity is enormous."

However, Reform UK is also seemingly looking at the Liberal Democrats for inspiration.

Despite receiving less votes than Reform UK, Sir Ed Davey's party returned 72 MPs.

Farage, who claimed Reform UK has 266 constituency associations, said: “It’s about building teams, it’s about having unity, and it’s through the branches that we get those structures.

“There is a template for this, and I never thought I’d say this, but we need to learn from the Liberal Democrats.

“Now, that doesn’t mean that you’ll see me cascading down waterfalls and I won’t behave in a way that I think is particularly stupid. The Liberal Democrats build branches and the Liberal Democrats win seats at district, council and unity level... The Liberal Democrats put literature through doors in their target areas.

“Despite the fact they haven’t got any policies at all, in fact the whole thing’s really rather vacuous, but they managed with a vote much lower than ours to win 72 seats in parliament.

“So not only am I giving you the shares of the party, I’m actually giving you the responsibility for making this a success.”