Reform UK is organising itself to be more democratic and “a formidable force” in British politics, according to chairman Zia Yusuf.
He said membership of the party has grown to 75,000 people and that he has contributed £200,000 to the party’s coffers.
Yusuf told GB News: “What we're focused on now, what I'm focused on as chairman, is turning this party into a formidable force in British politics. We are building a national infrastructure all over the country to build a grassroots, ballot box-winning machine.
“I’ve been chairman for five weeks. What have we been up to? Well, firstly, we've been focused on drafting a constitution, essentially putting in place a chair in all of the constituencies in which we're going to have a local Reform branch structure.
“We have seen our membership surge to 75,000 and that continues to rocket. We're going to be standing 2,300 candidates next year in local council elections for which we've already had 3,000 applicants.
“Three thousand applicants, brilliant patriots from all sorts of backgrounds. So, we're very excited about that. We also had an event two days ago…and appointed 70 constituency chairs, new constituency chairs, and brand new Reform branches.
“Those constituencies are composed of 6 million electors and constituents and in two weeks’ time, we'll have another event with another 70 representing another 5 million.
“We have been busy organising our conference. It's going to be the biggest conference this party has ever seen. It's going to be unlike anything else seen before in British politics, 20-21 September…and most importantly, we have seen in the polls that have just come out in the last week, we have seen that the Reform party is now polling between 18% and 21%.”
“That is up from the brilliant 14% that we won at the General Election just a few weeks ago. And one of my mandates from Nigel [Farage] as chairman is to ensure that we are now building a national infrastructure to convert all of that surging support into victory after victory at the ballot box.”
In a discussion with GB News’ Political Editor Christopher Hope, he added: “This is a serious political party. We are going to be a formidable force in British politics. We're going to be durable. We're going to be here to stay.
“We're going to be using modern technology, and most importantly, we're going to be helping to manifest and convert all of that energy and support into victory at the ballot box.”
Asked how much money he has given to the party, he said: “I've given £200,000. I have no plans to give more, and I'll tell you why. It's because we have so many incredible people who want to give money.
“By the way, the biggest portion of our donations come from small donors, 75,000 members who pay £25 pounds a unit. Every day, I get a report of people who are donating. You know, £5 pounds, £10 pounds, £15 pounds, all of that is so, so important.
“Nigel gets so many cheques through the mail from people. These are patriotic people…and they're going to be used to continue to build our infrastructure and can be used in campaigns.”
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