Not long after I arrived at the Arena Birmingham for Reform UK’s local elections campaign launch, I was invited to come and see the set.
This is not an offer I have ever had at a political event before. I don’t think I’ve ever been at one featuring anything that could be described as a ‘set’.
So, of course I went along. I’m not sure what I was imagining – maybe a tour of the lighting rigs or sound boards, or information about where the confetti cannons were hidden.
But no, it was an actual set. A fake street of shopfronts, specially made for the event with political easter eggs hidden in posters and notices. A fake road with fake potholes, dotted with signs and traffic cones. A real bus stop with a pile of bin bags. All set up in front of thousands of seats.
It was theatrical, no doubt, and it looked expensive. It certainly was not what I would typically associate with the launch of a local election campaign.
Reform had billed this rally as the biggest political event in the UK since the end of the Second World War, with a much-cited figure putting ticket sales at around 10,000.
By the time things kicked off on Friday evening (an hour late, due to heavy protests outside the arena), there were not 10,000 people in the crowd. I would estimate from the large patches of empty seats that it was a few thousand short.
However, I can say it sounded like there could have been 10,000 of them. If the scenery was theatrical, the rally itself was too – almost like a pantomime at times. An announcement to get people to their seats aptly said: ‘The show will commence in 15 minutes.’
And when it did, the audience roared and laughed and booed when prompted by the speakers. At any mention of small boats or migration, there were yells of ‘send them back!’ and ‘get them out!’
These people had been told there would be special guests, but the one big surprise was a bit underwhelming. Reform revealed their candidate for West of England Mayor will be Arron Banks.
If you haven’t heard of him, don’t worry – I got the impression more than half of the room also hadn’t. He’s been described as ‘the man who bankrolled Brexit’, as the biggest financial supporter of the campaign to leave the EU.
Banks might want to work on his communications strategy before cracking on with his campaign. He told the crowd he is ‘about as popular in Bristol as a pork pie in a bar mitzvah’, and explained his decision to run by saying: ‘When the boss [Nigel Farage] phones you and says you’ve got to do it, you’ve got to do it.’
Like at last year’s party conference, Lee Anderson’s speech was more of a stand-up routine. And like in that speech from last September, he also claimed dubiously that the UK had come up with more than 50% of inventions in the past 1,000 years.
This time, though, he tried a new line. Talking about a new government working group to establish a definition of Islamophobia, Anderson said: ‘I can save you the trouble – there’s no such thing as Islamophobia.’
That could be news to Reform chairman Zia Yusuf, who has spoken in the past about his experiences with anti-Muslim hate.
At last, with the crowd beginning to look a little restless – people I spoke to beforehand had travelled from Gloucestershire and Liverpool, and presumably were concerned about trains home – it was the turn of Farage.
The leader rode to the stage on the side of a JCB excavator, donated by prominent Tory donor Lord Bamford (who previously paid for Boris Johnson’s wedding). It was likely out of appreciation rather than obligation that he began with, essentially, a two-minutes ad for the business.
He got plenty of whoops and applause, particularly for his line: ‘Everyone who comes illegally will be deported, full stop, end of story.’ The send-them-backers were thrilled. But despite that, due to the late hour, people were getting up to leave before he finished.
By the big finale, which involved T-shirts being shot out of handheld cannons, some of the clothing was landing in sections of empty seats. I’ve never seen anything like this opulent event before – I’m not sure I’ll see something like it again.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected].
For more stories like this, check our news page.
