Nigel Farage ‘gives up Reform UK ownership’ as Keir Starmer’s Sue Gray pay row deepens – UK politics live

Reform UK will begin its party conference on Friday with claims that it plans to win the next general election.

The party, which secured five seats in July, is set to begin its two-day conference in Birmingham with speeches from party leader Nigel Farage, deputy leader Richard Tice, chair Zia Yousuf and MPs Lee Anderson, Rupert Lowe and James McMurdock.

Mr Anderson, Reform’s chief whip, is expected to say: “We have five MPs and we are growing our membership and support every day. Next year we will win hundreds of council seats across the UK. We must take this fight to Parliament so we can take back control of our country and in 2029 win the general election.”

Mr Anderson was Reform’s first MP after he joined the party in March following his suspension from the Conservatives over Islamophobic comments about London mayor Sadiq Khan.

James McMurdock, whose victory in South Basildon and East Thurrock was an unexpected gain for Reform, will also talk up the party’s prospects in five years, saying the 2029 conference will be “ready to welcome prime minister Nigel Farage”.

Sir Keir Starmer has “lived entirely by the rules”, Jess Phillips said, after the prime minister was criticised for accepting lavish gifts and tickets to football matches.

The Home Office minister told Times Radio: “The prime minister has lived entirely by the rules that have governed every single member of parliament, certainly since I’ve been there – he received gifts and things, and he declared them.”

“Let me tell you, it feels like he’s breathing down my neck to make sure that we’re doing things right in my department,” she added.

Asked whether she would accept similar gifts, Ms Phillips replied: “I don’t like the Arsenal.”

She added: “We get invited to theatre performances and things, and you go along and you support the arts, and people want you to go to their things because they want it supported.

“So if you can find me a politician who has never done anything like that, has never ever, you know, gone to their local theatre to watch something then, well, I think they’re lying to you.”

Local MPs have sniped at Reform’s parliamentarian in Great Yarmouth after he pledged to donate his MP’s salary to local causes.

Multimillionaire Rupert Lowe – a businessman and former Southampton FC chair elected to parliament for the first time in July – has promised to donate around £5,000 every month to a different local cause, including to fund redecorations at the tea room of a local football club and to take local schoolchildren to visit Westminster.

But his generosity has sparked annoyance from fellow local MPs, with an unnamed Labour MP telling the Financial Times: “It’s all very well for him to do this, but of course there are some people who think MPs shouldn’t be paid and that we should do the same.”

And a Tory MP sniped: “He’s a multi-millionaire and he’s not really an MP in the way that most of us are.”

Mr Lowe told the paper that he found the criticim “pretty petty”, adding: “It’s a personal choice. Certain Labour MPs are richer than me and still don’t do it. I think being an MP should be a vocation, not a gravy train.”

Mr Farage has repeatedly been accused of not prioritising his Commons role, coming under fire for spending time in the US endorsing Donald Trump’s presidential campaign following the July 4 election.

Asked during a phone-in on LBC whether he was holding physical surgeries in Clacton, Mr Farage said “not yet”, but that he would “when Parliament allows me”.

On whether he had been advised for his own security not to hold surgeries, he replied: “I would have thought that would make sense, wouldn’t you?”

He said the guidance had been given by “the Speaker’s (Sir Lindsay Hoyle’s) Office, and beneath the Speaker’s Office there is a security team who give advice and say you should do some things and not do others”.

“So we’re not in a fit state to do the old-style surgeries, but do you know what, if you’ve got something to say to me as a Clacton resident, Zoom is not the end of the world,” Mr Farage added.

Sue Gray, the prime minister’s chief of staff, is facing a sullen revolt from the political advisers she is supposed to lead. The leaking of her salary – £3,000 more than Keir Starmer’s – matters not just because of the sums of money involved, but because of the resentments it reveals.

One of the aggrieved advisers quoted by the BBC in its report of Gray’s pay said: “If you ever see any evidence of our preparations for government, please let me know.” Given that Gray was hired by Starmer to prepare for government, deploying her experience as a senior civil servant, this was wounding.

The immediate cause of the unhappiness of Labour apparatchiks is that she is taking a £170,000 salary, which is more than the £167,000 that the prime minister is paid, while she is being blamed for squeezing the pay of the poor, bloody infantry.

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Nigel Farage has said he is “relinquishing” control of Reform UK as he gives up his majority shareholder position.

Reform UK Ltd is a registered company, unlike most other political parties, and was previously registered as the Brexit Party from 2018-2021.

Companies House lists party leader Mr Farage, and deputy leader Richard Tice, as persons with significant control, with Mr Farage currently owning more than 50% of shares.

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The Conservative Party claimed Sir Keir had “snatched away support for the vulnerable”, while handing large pensions to his senior officials.

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Reform UK opens its annual conference in Birmingham sporting its first elected members of parliament, a much-expanded membership, and plenty of enthusiasm. Its leader, Nigel Farage, who has been knocking around at the top of politics for longer than all his many rivals combined, has made it into the Commons, on his eighth attempt. He has pledged to spearhead “the real opposition” to the Labour government…

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Nigel Farage is at the centre of a row after he claimed security concerns had prevented him from holding surgeries in his Essex constituency.

Now he has said he was told not to hold the face-to-face meetings with voters, traditionally held on the last day of the week, for safety reasons.

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