Enthusiasm peaks at a bar-fuelled gathering of supporters of insurgent party headed by Nigel Farage
Delegates attend the the Reform UK party's summer rally at Staffordshire Showgrounds in Stafford, England. The Reform UK campaign threatens to further undermine the Conservatives' electoral performance in the July 4th general election. Photograph: Christopher Furlong/GettyReform UK’s surge in the polls in advance of the July 4th election. The Reform official told party supporters queuing for a rally that it gained a new member “every 36 seconds – I see them coming in on the screens”.
It was an eclectic crowd. There was a roughly even split between men and women, but that’s where the symmetry ended. The biggest cohort was older but plenty were younger. Dotted between those who looked like traditional Tories was a noticeable contingent of long-haired biker-types, some covered in tattoos. Only a handful of attendees were not white.
I don’t want to keep eating into my savings. I feel betrayed. I fear for the future and I fear for my granddaughterReform placards were laid out on the chairs, although closer inspection revealed that they had been reprinted onto old Brexit Party corrugated boards – the old motifs were visible against the light. The room itself was dark, hot and stuffy.
Almost every strident declaration Habib made was punctuated by one particular man who kept shouting “exactly!” Habib complained of media representations of Reform supporters as “far right swivel-eyed racist lunatics... and have we any far right swivel-eyed racist lunatics here?” Exactly Man himself stuck his hand up. Habib pointed him out, laughing. The room erupted.
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