Nigel Farage versus the world: How the Brexit Party was born

When Nigel Farage initiated the Brexit Party in 2019, he was convinced the majority of Britons wanted to see a completely new type of political party taking on Labour and the Conservatives. But the process of starting a party from scratch was far from easy. In fact it was a battlefield.

“The fake websites and billboards, the attempted stings, the campaign the Electoral Commission waged against us, the difficulties of getting a bank account and the banks’ fear of ‘reputational damage’ are pretty shocking,” Farage claims in a new book. “And that’s without the behaviour of the Tories.”

The Brexit Party gave voters a real choice at the ballot box. When every mainstream political party was dragging its feet over leaving the European Union or outright opposing it, Farage’s new party said it would get it done and dusted.

If anyone wanted to carry on sticking two fingers up at the Establishment, this was the electoral vehicle for them.

The inside story of the characters who made it all happen is now revealed in a book called The Art of the Impossible: How to Start a Political Party, by Andrew Reid, a UKIP veteran, solicitor and former judge.

The Brexit Party had a deadline – it had to be a viable, voteable party by the European elections on May, 23, 2019.

READ MORE: Farage warns ‘the battle for Brexit is not over’ on referendum anniversary

Since the referendum vote in 2016, the parliamentary process to leave the European Union had taken so long that the next EU elections, which many hoped would never have to be fought, had come around again and Farage knew it was the best opportunity to reiterate the British will to leave.

But the process of setting up a new party – a successor to UKIP – encountered all the usual hindrances faced by any kind of insurgents in this country.

Funnily enough for Farage, it was the banks that proved most obstructive, refusing, he claims, to bank their supporters’ donations – years before his current trouble with Coutts. Not only that but he suggests the Electoral Commission – the official body for recognising a new party – waged a campaign against them. According to Reid, they took far longer to deal with the simplest of tasks that, for the pro-Remain party Change UK, they completed much more quickly.

Reid, who wrote this new book with Simon Carr, was the man Farage chose to help organise this new group.

He also happens to be a professional racehorse trainer which must have given him and keen gambler Farage plenty to talk about.

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Like the rest of the 17 million Britons who voted Leave two years earlier, they were appalled by the arrogant backsliding carried on by then Prime Minister Theresa May. After her dismal election performance in 2017, Farage and Reid feared Britain would get “Brexit in name only” or, worse, a second referendum. They had to put on a good showing in the only election that allowed a new party to compete fairly with the two-party dominance.

Reid had great faith in Farage, seeing him at “Leave Means Leave” rallies across the country in autumn 2018, testing the appetite of his “People’s Army” for re-entering the Brexit fray. “His voice fills a hall,” writes Reid. “There isn’t a better voice in British politics, with its gravelly edge and its full bass register.

“It’s a parade ground voice with authority – a sense of command.”

Once Farage had finally decided to lead the Brexit Party in January 2019, it was up to Reid to pull the team together. He had only five months to do it.

Not only was it a rush, but the level of animosity levelled at the party by Remainer opponents was appalling.

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“Brexit was not for the faint-hearted,” recalls Reid. “They didn’t just throw milkshakes, they shut down meetings, picketed our venues, chained themselves to chairs, harassed families, hounded people out of jobs, attacked businesses with fake reviews, scared off customers, organised boycotts. Brexit wasn’t for those who had something to lose.”

Democracy just doesn’t happen in Britain – it has to be fought for.

With Reid and his team fixing the complex details of starting a party, they still hadn’t had their breakthrough moment.

Was there really a public audience?

That moment came in February 2019 when their website went live. The response was immediate with supporters signing up and pledging money too.

“By the end of the week we had 100,000 registrations,” recalls Reid. “In seven days we were pushing Conservative Party numbers in terms of registered supporters.”

Farage adds: “We took off like a rocket.”

The Electoral Commission couldn’t quite believe the cascade of contributions and suggested it was Russian “financial bots”, so beginning one of the most egregious slurs against Farage and the Brexit Party.

As Theresa May and Speaker John Bercow strung out Brexit negotiations, it became evident the scheduled European elections would be held and there was a sudden scramble for election candidates, Reid claims.

He feared there would be an upsurge of UKIP unsuitables, including one man who believed that voting should only begin at the age of 50. One candidate had naked photos of him in circulation, showing him covered in vomit after a drinking session, but on closer examination it was found not to disqualify him from selection.

Several high-profile candidates were added to the roster, with the Daily Express’s Anne Widdecombe contacting the party just before the deadline. The head of candidates dashed down to meet her off a cruise ship at Southampton and the necessary signed papers made the deadline in time.

Attacks on the Brexit Party ranged from the trivial but annoying – such as party stamped-addressed envelopes being used to return bricks – to the seriously toxic.

Just days before the European elections the Electoral Commission was prompted by former Labour PM Gordon Brown to announce an investigation of the Brexit Party’s smaller donations, especially ones deemed to come from abroad.

Unsurprisingly, the story was picked up by the BBC, with Nick Robinson asking: “Is it true you’re taking money in all currencies, including Russian?”

Two years after the allegations, the Electoral Commission finally declared: “We hold no evidence that any political party is being financed, in whole or part, by bots making multiple donations, or any donations at all.”

A bit late, but the Brexit Party needn’t have worried. The eventual results were a tremendous success. Winning 29 seats, almost twice as many as their nearest rivals, the Remainer Lib-Dems, the Brexit Party had become the largest single national party in the European Parliament.

The Tories were humiliated, winning only four seats out of the 73 up for grabs.

Confidence collapsed in Theresa May’s premiership and she resigned, leaving the path open for a leadership contest which Brexiteer Boris Johnson won.

A chance to see if the Brexit Party’s muscle extended into British parliamentary elections came with a Peterborough by-election. Labour scraped in with the Brexit Party coming a strong second, splitting the anti-Labour vote.

The message was clear: the Tories had to deal with the Brexit Party.

But Boris held firm that he would not stand down Tories in Red Wall seats where the Brexit Party stood a better chance.

At one point this book alleges that several Brexit Party members were offered prominent roles in the Tory party – an illegal act.

Ten peerages and a knighthood were reportedly offered. Ann Widdecombe was offered a place on the Government’s Brexit negotiation team. Reid states in the book that Farage was apoplectic with fury and rejected all offers.

Eventually Farage had the difficult decision of standing down his own candidates in order to ensure Boris Johnson’s tremendous Get Brexit Done election victory. Both Reid and Farage now regret their decision but claim they had little choice at the time, fearing they’d let in an anti-Brexit party.

But it leaves a sour taste, especially after their heroic European election success.

Reid’s book underlines Farage’s ability as a campaigner.

Despite having no elected MPs in the UK parliament, it was without doubt Farage and his Brexiteers who ensured Britain finally left the EU.

So would he ever be tempted back into the political arena?

At the end of his introduction to this book, Farage hints, “more important than anything is the government’s commitment to Net Zero. It’s as big as Brexit. It will limit the prospects of this country for 50 years if we don’t get it right.”

But, as this meticulous and pacy book makes clear, any attempt to challenge the Establishment is a hard and unforgiving path – and not for the faint-hearted.

• Tim Newark is author of Protest Vote: How Politicians Lost The Plot (Gibson Square, £8.99). The Art Of The Impossible: The Inside Story of the Brexit Party by Andrew Reid with Simon Carr (Biteback Publishing, £12.99) is out now.

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