[36] On the day of the announcement, Nigel Farage, who had been an independent MEP since his departure from UKIP in early December 2018, said that the party was Blaiklock's idea but that she had acted with his full support.

[49] In May 2019, Farage described his admiration for how fellow Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy members, Italy's Five Star Movement, had managed to grow from a protest group into the country's largest political party in both houses of the Italian Parliament.

They said that the party would campaign on a platform that was opposed to further COVID-19 lockdowns (due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic) and that it would seek to reform aspects of UK Governance, including the BBC and House of Lords.

[77][78] The media gave renewed attention to Reform UK in December 2022 during the cost-of-living crisis after Farage announced that it would stand a full slate of candidates at the next general election.

After some opinion polls indicated a modest increase in support for Reform UK, The Daily Telegraph described the party as a "threat on the Right" to the Conservative government of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

[83] On 20 October 2023, Richard Tice confirmed that Reform UK would stand in Conservative seats at the 2024 general election,[84] and by January 2024, the party was polling around 10% of the popular vote.

[87][88] In March, Beau Dade, the prospective candidate in South Swindon, was dismissed by the party after it emerged that he had written an article saying, "The end game is to be in a position where it is possible to re-migrate hundreds of thousands – perhaps millions – of people back to their countries of origin...

Following this, Reform invited the Financial Times, Sky News, The Spectator and The Daily Telegraph to inspect their website's front- and back-end code and the underlying data of the party's membership numbers.

[116] On 5 January 2025, Twitter owner Elon Musk publicly urged Farage to step down as leader of Reform UK, marking a sudden withdrawal of support.

[121] He was re-elected in the 2024 general election and joined by Nigel Farage, Richard Tice, Rupert Lowe, and James McMurdock, representing Clacton, Boston and Skegness, Great Yarmouth, and South Basildon and East Thurrock respectively.

[122][123] In February 2019, nine MEPs, who had left UKIP in opposition to Gerard Batten's leadership, joined the party;[39] by mid-April 2019, the number had increased to 14, all being members of the Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy (EFDD) group in the European Parliament.

Twenty-nine Brexit Party MEPs were elected to the European Parliament, including Richard Tice and former Conservative MP Ann Widdecombe, while Nigel Farage, Nathan Gill and Jonathan Bullock kept their seats.

"[128] MEP Louis Stedman-Bryce resigned on 19 November 2019 in response to "The Brexit Party’s recent decision to select a Scottish candidate who has openly posted homophobic views".

[136] The Brexit Party contested the 2021 Senedd election on a platform of ending lockdowns, investing in the NHS, giving parents greater control over education, building the M4 relief road, and cutting local government,[137] but did not win any seats.

[15] In October 2024, Farage called on Conservative Party councillors to join Reform UK, saying that he was contacting over a thousand of them and that "a huge number of them genuinely agree with us and what we stand for".

[169] Commenting on the incident, political scientist Tim Bale wrote that labelling Reform UK as far-right is unhelpful, and that it "causes too visceral a reaction and at the same time is too broad to be meaningful".

[176] The party also supported cutting Britain's foreign aid budget, scrapping the proposed HS2 project and introducing free WiFi on all British public transport.

According to Reform UK, this money would be raised from the scrapping of net zero subsidies, the ending of payments of interest on quantitative easing reserves to banks, the halving of foreign aid, cuts to working age benefits and other public spending reductions.

[218] On 4 June 2024, it was reported that Reform UK had accepted "more than £2.3 million from oil and gas interests, highly polluting industries, and climate science deniers since December 2019".

[227] Farage stated Reform UK will launch their own independent inquiry and pay for it themselves as the government one was rejected in order to respond to the "overwhelming demand" of the public to know the "full, unvarnished truth" of the scandal.

As well as the leader and chairman, other leadership roles were assigned to Brian Monteith as Chief Whip in the European Parliament (before Brexit)[233] and David Bull as health spokesperson during the 2019 election.

The Brexit Party stood candidates in Great Britain at the 2019 European Parliament election, including the former Conservative Party Minister of State, Ann Widdecombe,[239] the journalist, Annunziata Rees-Mogg (a former Conservative general election candidate and the sister of the Conservative MP and Brexit advocate, Jacob Rees-Mogg), the Leave Means Leave co-founder, Richard Tice,[209] the writers, Claire Fox and James Heartfield (both once part of the Revolutionary Communist Party and later writers for Spiked),[240][241] Stuart Waiton (a fellow Spiked contributor)[242][243] James Glancy, a former member of the Royal Marines and the Special Boat Service who was awarded the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross,[244] Martin Daubney, a journalist and commentator,[245] David Bull, author and television presenter,[246][non-primary source needed] Brian Monteith, a former Conservative Party MSP, Rupert Lowe, a businessman[247] and retired Rear Admiral Roger Lane-Nott.

Johnson did make a statement covering these two issues, something which Farage referenced as key when announcing he was standing down some candidates, but both the Brexit Party and the Conservatives denied that any deal was done between them.

[277] BBC political analyst Peter Barnes commented on 9 June that the change in leadership "has clearly had a positive impact on the party's performance in the polls," and that this "has come at the expense of the Conservatives.

"[278] A poll of 1,000 viewers conducted after the BBC's seven-party debate held on 7 June found Farage to be the winner with 25% support, his closest rival being Labour Party deputy leader Angela Rayner, on 19%.

[293] Farage was criticised during the campaign for suggesting that the West had provoked Russia's invasion of Ukraine by expanding the European Union and NATO military alliance eastwards.

[294] On 27 June, Channel 4 News revealed alleged homophobic, racist and Islamophobic comments made by some party campaigners in Clacton,[295][296] including an individual calling Rishi Sunak a "Paki" (a racist slur against those of South Asian heritage in the UK),[297] and suggesting the army should shoot at small boats bringing illegal migrants to the UK,[296] and another campaigner calling the LGBT flag "degenerate".

[324][325] In December 2021, days before the North Shropshire by-election, local councillor and Deputy Mayor of Market Drayton Town Council, Mark Whittle, defected to the party from the Conservatives.

[334] In the 2024 English local elections, Reform UK took approximately 11% of the vote where it stood candidates,[335] and won two seats on Havant Borough Council[336] and one on the London Assembly.

Thirty-two councils now have at least one Reform UK councillor,[339] with the party winning by-elections in Blackpool,[340] Dartford,[341] East Riding of Yorkshire,[342] Kent,[343] St Helens,[344] Swale,[345] Wolverhampton,[346] and Wyre.