“Burnham won’t solve your problems, because Labor can’t solve your problems,” Farage has said. “His plan for the government is to act like a continuation Starmer, and hopefully the rest of us are too stupid to notice.”
There are early attempts to remove his right to rule. The Reformation has already called for an immediate general election – the likely Tories of Badenoch, whose poll is the worst – are opposed. Reformists hope he will face the same fundamental problems that plagued Starmer in office. “He will have a new look, but he won’t be able to deliver anything and he will be associated with the Labor brand in a few months,” the Reform official said.
Others in the Reform tribe seem to want to talk about the chaotic situation and paint Burnham as an extremist. The party’s deputy leader Richard Tice has repeatedly described Burnham’s agenda as “hard socialism” and of “hard-left.”
Reform’s Tory rivals, still struggling in the polls after their bid to replace the prime minister collapsed in 2024, argue that the leadership change should strike fear into Farage’s staff, who have characterized themselves as anti-establishment outsiders.
“I think it doesn’t change much for us,” the Conservative shadow cabinet member said. “Anyway, evolution, you’re really blooming.”
“The Reform argument (motion) up to Makerfield was ‘Vote Reform, get rid of Starmer’ – now it can’t be ‘Vote Reform get rid of Burnham’ because he just beat them where they had to walk,” the same person said.
