Malcolm Cupis is a public relations consultant, strategist and writer. He stood as a Reform UK candidate in the 2024 general Election and was a constituency chairman. He resigned from Reform UK in February 2025 and has since rejoined the Conservative Party.
Two weeks ago I wrote about an alarmingly bad week for the Conservative Party that had generated many lurid negative headlines throughout the media. The last week has been just as revealing over at Reform UK, with a succession of developments that have left increasing numbers of members and officers feeling a lot less secure about their choices. None of which have come as a surprise to me.
When I resigned from Reform at the end of February the best analogy I could find was to remember the Wizard of Oz. As a candidate and chairman I had walked along that Yellow Brick Road, had negotiated all the many and varied obstacles along the way, finally reached the end, pulled back the curtain and discovered…the truth.
The truth will always prevail. You can spin and deny and hide and obfuscate with varying levels of success, but ultimately the British people are not daft or gullible and will discover the truth.
The truth is that what Reform promises and what it stands to deliver could barely be more removed from each other.
I think the goings on of this last week will have given very many more people a glimpse of the reality behind that curtain.
Perhaps most significantly was the announcement that all Reform candidates in the future will undergo psychometric testing, to show that they are of the “correct” mindset to represent the party in elections. Quite what constitutes correct you can only imagine, but I have no doubt that blind loyalty, unquestioning devotion, absolute compliance, and a reticence to communicate will be far more highly prized than free thought, working under one’s own initiative, offering challenging opinions or creative problem solving.
In the same week there was a new document outlining Branch rules leaked to certain sections of the media. This has apparently been sent to all Chairmen and Officers in the country and I have had discussions with several current Chairmen and Officers who have not received it well.
The document reveals the full extent of how Reform HQ is now running the minutiae of every branch in the country and proves the party to be authoritarian to a degree that I can’t imagine has been replicated in recent British political history.
All Branch Officers are now required to sign an NDA as a condition of appointment and can be removed at any time by a National or Regional Director for a host of reasons, including “poor compliance”, being judged to have “brought or may risk bringing the Party into disrepute” and “disrespectful behaviour”.
Again, what constitutes these things is unclear – it seems to be wholly in the judgement of the Directors.
Under ‘communication’ officers are forbidden from using social media to communicate party matters to members and supporters or to publish a website. All literature has to be approved by a Regional Director.
It is finances though that really show the extent of the authoritarian control at Reform with the new guidance clearly stating that all monies raised by a Branch belong to Reform HQ. They are not free to raise money and allocate spending themselves, and any unapproved spending that does take place will be made the personal liability of the officers. Any collected funds of more than £500 have to be banked in the Reform HQ account.
Reform HQ will continually audit the branches, looking at their finances, member engagement, campaign progress and, once again, compliance with national guidelines. Audits will be reviewed by the board who will then take action as they see fit.
Candidates are no longer able to also serve as Officers and any officer who becomes a candidate is required to resign. Candidates will be voted for by constituency members but crucially a clause states that Reform HQ may supersede or administer any candidate selection at its sole discretion and will administer the selection of a by-election or mayoral candidate at its sole discretion.
So much for the much-vaunted democratisation!
Local branches may only invite guest speakers from an HQ approved shortlist and local conferences have to be approved by the party Chairman. Any financial losses made on an event are again potentially made the personal liability of the Officers involved.
The final sting in the tail lies in the last clause of the document which states that the party can revoke any branch rule at any time at their own discretion.
Quite how Reform imagines that imposing this sort of authoritarianism on their own volunteers will inspire participation and effectively galvanise them, God only knows, but the message is abundantly clear to party members and supporters. Reform doesn’t trust its own people and will run everything centrally with an iron fist. It does not want Chairmen, Candidates and Officers who contribute thoughts, ideas and creativity. It does not want people to communicate, locally or nationally. Fundamentally it demands absolute compliance. Do not think, speak or act without approval from HQ. Sit there, shut up and do what you are told. Or face the consequences.
And the clear message to the world outside is absolutely overt. This is not a liberal party that stands for free thinking or expression. This is quite probably the most authoritarian party in recent British political history – despite what it might claim, it doesn’t even tolerate free speech among its own volunteers and candidates, never mind the rest of British society.
To end the week Reform unveiled Laila Cunningham as its candidate elect for the London Mayoralty. This upset a lot of members who saw former SAS soldier Ant Middleton as the natural choice. Middleton gave a barnstorming speech at the party conference at the NEC last autumn, which was received with great enthusiasm by all those in attendance, and has since spoken regularly about his passion for the role and his determination to take it on.
Instead London Reformers find that yet another émigré from the Conservative Party has been prioritised, and even though identity should be the most arbitrary consideration, the fact that the party has gone for a Muslim woman has not gone unnoticed. Middleton was always going to be tricky to get past the vetting process, given that he famously spent time in prison for assaulting Police Officers, and if he had passed this would have caused a great deal of consternation among candidates failed for far lesser misdemeanours, especially as, in many instances, no justification has ever been given to them.
The only positive to come out of this for Reform is that very little of it has been translated into negative media headlines, which is in itself a significant thing. Much of the credit for this may lie with the restoration of the highly skilled and effective, widely adored and ultra-Farage loyalist Gawain Towler, who has been formally welcomed back into the fold following the shifting of Zia Yusuf away from party Chairman.
In the days ahead Towler has been shortlisted, with other loyalists, to become a become a board member, under the thinnest veneer of democratic process, and with the authoritarian direction of travel of Reform now established he may well become the centrally critical figure in its fortunes going forward.
conservativehome.com (Article Sourced Website)
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