«Reform UK». Why is this party so popular, and what is its attitude towards Ukraine?

Photo: AFP

So how did «Reform UK» gain such strong support, what does it offer its voters, does it really have ties with Russia as a right-wing populist party, and how might it treat support for Ukraine if it comes to power?

History of the party and its ideology

«Reform UK» began its political life as the “Brexit” party, founded in late 2018. Its creation coincided with a period of heated debate about Britain's membership in the EU and widespread public disappointment with their country's membership in an alliance that they did not see as particularly beneficial to the development and geopolitical significance of their state. The Brexit Party was created by English nationalist politician Catherine Ann Blake, who remained party leader for only two months.

After that, the Brexit Party was led by co-founder Nigel Farage, a well-known British Eurosceptic who previously had his own right-wing populist party, the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) and played an important role in campaigning for the 2016 referendum on Britain's exit from the EU. A distinctive feature of UKIP was that its representatives advocated a ‘no-deal Brexit’ (or Clean Brexit). This meant that Britain's exit from the EU without any agreement would automatically lead to the termination of all previous agreements between the EU and Britain on trade, movement of people, services, etc. (i.e., it would remove any obligations of the United Kingdom to the EU).

After Britain's exit from the EU, which was the main goal of the Brexit Party, party members decided to expand their political agenda and their demands on their opponents and rebranded themselves. Between 2020 and 2021, the party changed its name to «Reform UK», also expanding its ideology with the following key demands:

• fighting illegal immigration in the country;

• reducing government spending, bureaucracy and taxes;

• completely overhauling the political system in favour of decentralisation (under the banner of radical anti-establishment), a proportional electoral system and a written constitution;

• economic deregulation;

• strengthening national identity and unity (while protecting individual rights);

• reduction of environmental regulations, etc.

In 2021, Farage stepped down as party leader, handing over the reins to businessman, Member of the European Parliament and personal acquaintance - Richard Tice. Under his leadership, the party expanded its media presence and appeal, fielding candidates not only in England, but also in Scotland and Wales. It was at this time that «Reform UK» achieved high visibility and organisational presence in many cities across the country.

In 2024, amid public dissatisfaction with the Conservative Party and political stagnation, Nigel Farage returned to the position of leader of «Reform UK». Later that year, his party won five seats in parliament, which was a breakthrough success for the party and a challenge to the entire traditional political system in Britain. Although the traditional Labour Party, led by Keir Starmer, won these elections, recent polls show a rapid decline in the ratings of this party, which gives additional popularity to «Reform UK» and Farage's personally. Whether this is a threat or not, we will discuss it later. For now, it is important for us to analyse why this populist party has grown so rapidly and whether it has any links to Russian political interests, which could also have played a role in this process.

The influence of socio-political movements on the party's popularity

The party's success could be linked to the usual electoral processes, when the old party increasingly annoys and disappoints the electorate, causing them to want to vote for newer parties. However, the reasons for this shift in British society are much deeper than the mere novelty of the Reform UK party compared to the old Conservative and Labour parties.

Let's look at the results of a poll by the YouGov research centre, which were published on 24 June 2025. According to them (when respondents were asked which party they would vote for if they had to vote right now), the Reform UK party is most popular among men (31%), among mature and elderly people (40-49 years old – 26%; 60-69 years old – 37%), among people with lower education (43%), among representatives of lower social and economic status (C2DE – 35%) or with salaries below £20,000 (32%), and among people who pay little attention to the political life of the country (34%). From all this, we get the following ‘portrait of a Reform UK voter’: an elderly or middle-aged person with a low economic status, without higher education and with little interest in the country's political processes. This result already says a lot about the political preferences of these Britons, but for a final conclusion, we need to refer to another YouGov, poll, the results of which were published on 28 January 2025, but even then there were high levels of support for the Reform UK party.

When asked ‘who is considering voting for Reform UK, 24% of Britons answered affirmatively. Most of these people are Conservatives (33%). An interesting fact here is that for a long time, the main electorate of the Conservatives has been mature/elderly and patriotic people, many of whom are also among the Reform UK electorate. When asked what attracts them most to Reform UK, the most common responses were their distinct difference from the Conservative and Labour parties (19%), their policy on migrants (18%), their unique approach to politics (11%), as well as their political values, their honesty and openness, and their desire to defend Britain's interests in the world. It is also interesting to note that Nigel Farage himself and his leadership were not among the most popular reasons for supporting the party (only 4%), which may indicate that it is not the party leader but its values, programme and proposed approaches that are popular among the reformist electorate.

Thus, Reform UK's advantage over traditional British parties is a consequence of profound political, social and economic changes in Europe, accompanied by the adoption among politicians of a left-liberal political paradigm characterised by multiculturalism (i.e. the mass acceptance of migrants from so-called ‘third world’ countries) positive discrimination with all kinds of sexual, gender and ethnic quotas, and the so-called ‘green agenda’, which ultimately led to large-scale environmental restrictions on industrial production.

Due to economic stagnation and social tensions, the Conservative and Labour parties became unattractive. This is especially true of the Conservative Party's traditional electorate, which was deeply disappointed with the party's actions between 2010 and 2024 (when the Conservatives were in power). A significant portion of conservative voters (primarily older and patriotic voters) switched their support to the right-wing populist and anti-establishment Reform UK party, which challenged the outdated and unstable left-liberal political paradigm.

Ties with Russia

When discussing the reasons for the growing popularity of right-wing radical parties in Europe, we cannot ignore the issue of their ties with Russian individuals and sources of income. The same applies to the British party «Reform UK». Although there is no evidence of direct cooperation between the party's leader, Nigel Farage, or other senior members, and Russia, still there are numerous facts about the links between its donors, either companies or individuals, and the aggressor country.

According to sources at The New York Times, one of the major donors to the «Reform UK» party, which has been accused of having ties with Russia, is the aerospace company HR Smith Group. According to documents, this company (namely its subsidiary Techtest) sold transmitters, cockpit equipment, antennas and other sensitive technologies worth nearly $2 million in 2023-2024 to the Indian state-owned company Hindustan Aeronautics, which is the largest trading partner of the Russian arms sales agency Rosoboronexport. Hindustan Aeronautics was listed in public records as a supplier of weapons to the Russian army, but was not subject to sanctions. HR Smith itself claimed that its sales were legitimate and that the equipment was intended for the Indian search and rescue network, while Hindustan Aeronautics rejected any allegations of supplying any components to Russia.

Other examples of «Reform UK» donors’ connection to Russia include individuals who, as millionaires or even billionaires, have their own assets in Russia or have had ties to Russian offshore schemes or personal relationships with Russian oligarchs. These include individuals such as investor David Lilly, who owned thousands of hectares of agricultural land in Russia's Stavropol region until 2022; Chris Harbourne (or Chakrit Sakunkrit), who appeared in the Panama Papers as a person linked to offshore schemes and Russian oligarchs, and who helped crypto operator Tether circumvent US banking restrictions (which, in turn, was criticised for its possible links to money laundering, including funds originating in Russia). Or less obvious but equally important figures, such as «Reform UK»'s major donor Jeremy Gosking, who, in addition to this party, made donations to the far-right Leave.EU, which has been thoroughly investigated for its alleged ties to the private strategic communications company Cambridge Analytica,, which has also been accused of having ties with Russia.

All this makes it very clear not only that these facts are very consistent with the pro-Russian statements made by Nigel Farage and the fact that he has repeatedly appeared on Russia Today, which spreads Russian propaganda and discredits Ukraine abroad. But it also shows who really benefits from the growing popularity of such right-wing populist parties in Europe. This is primarily beneficial to Russia, which, through financing and buying up these parties, is trying to weaken internal institutions in European countries, break traditional political systems and spread chaos, instability and tension in their societies in order to undermine support for Ukraine in the war. This goal also strongly coincides with the anti-establishment rhetoric of «Reform UK», which openly wants to change the established two-party system to one that is more beneficial to itself.

Attitude towards Ukraine

It is obvious that against the backdrop of pro-Russian statements from Nigel Farage, there were also very sceptical statements about Ukraine, which primarily concerned the unwillingness to provide long-range missiles, attempts to force Ukraine into dialogue with Russia, and claims that the West provoked Russia to invade Ukraine. However, his position and views on Ukraine have changed significantly, which deserves a more detailed analysis.

This concerns Farage's statement, which was made on 13 February 2025, about the need for Ukraine to join NATO and long-term cooperation between these two forces. This was followed by another statement on 20 February, in which Farage emphasised that Zelensky is not a dictator and that Trump's statements ‘should be taken seriously’. The reasons why Farage sided with Ukraine in this case may be complex, and to understand them, we need to look at what preceded these statements.

The fact is that, in addition to its potential ties with Russia, «Reform UK» has close ties with the Trumpist wing of the Republican Party, and Farage personally sympathises with Trump as an ideological and value-based partner. However, the main reason why Farage's position diverged from that of the Trumpist Republicans is most likely Elon Musk's interference in the internal affairs of Great Britain. On 6 January 2025, Musk called on the leader of «Reform UK» Farage to leave his post in the party so that a ‘more suitable person’ could take his place. This was probably caused by a conflict between Musk and Farage over the imprisoned far-right activist Tommy Robinson, with the first supporting his release, while the second distanced himself from him because of his radicalism. This action could have been a trigger that prompted Farage to take the initiative and, from a pragmatic and cynical point of view, to side with Ukraine and even support its accession to NATO, which may conceal a message to the Trump administration about ‘the need for the president to control the far-right Republicans/MAGA camp so that they do not interfere in internal political processes.’ In other words, support for Ukraine in this case is a purely pragmatic attempt to preserve his status from the overly radical right and the unlawful interference of his key partners - the Trumpists. Such factors could also include smaller examples, such as the statement by US Secretary of Defence Pete Hagerty, in which he indicated that his country would no longer prioritise European and Ukrainian security, which Farage could also perceive as an illegitimate action by his partners.

Another important factor could have been the electoral processes in the United Kingdom and the unified support of Ukraine by traditional political parties, along with their condemnation of President Trump's actions. The unwillingness to stand alone, so as not to be accused of sympathising with Russia, while most politicians and the general population support helping Ukraine in its fight against Russia, may also have played a role in Farage's change of position, which he could probably use to draw the electorate away from the Conservatives and Labour and to his side in the next election.

Conclusions

Almost every right-wing populist party in Europe is sceptical or hostile towards Ukraine (due to ideological beliefs and ties with Russia). If right-wing populists came to power, relations between Ukraine and these European countries would be greatly complicated, which would threaten Ukrainian security. The same cannot be said about «Reform UK», led by Nigel Farage, which is already more popular than the ruling Labour Party led by Keir Starmer, so it may only be a matter of time before the reformists come to power.

However, «Reform UK» has one feature that distinguishes it from Alternative for Germany or France’s National Front: its dependence on the political situation, which is actually beneficial to Ukraine. The Conservatives and Labour still have a huge influence on the positive attitude of Great Britain as a state towards Ukraine. In the case of a victory for the reformists, according to all possible forecasts, the composition of parliament will not change dramatically to a ‘single party led by «Reform UK», and the positions of the Conservatives and Labour will remain unchanged. Such political conditions do not allow Nigel Farage to break the entire traditional political system and establish his own order as quickly and sharply as he promised in his election campaigns. Therefore, if Farage is really an open supporter of Russia, he will not be able to openly demonstrate this due to the electoral struggle, political conditions and public opinion in the country (which is mostly pro-Ukrainian), and, as a result, radically change the vector of the state's development.

So, if «Reform UK» comes to power after the next election, relations between the UK and Ukraine might get worse and become more cold, but because of internal pressure and, of course, external pressure from Ukraine itself and pro-Ukrainian countries, relations won't become critical and openly hostile, and the reformists will have to continue military support for Ukraine and impose sanctions against Russia, in parallel with the EU.

Analytical article by Matviy Sukhachov, commentator on British politics, exclusively for Resurgam.