Nigel Farage's speech at the Reform UK conference at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) in Birmingham was delayed by a security alert and interrupted four times by protesters on Friday evening, with several audience members removed from the hall.
The Reform UK leader said he was "told, for security reasons, I couldn't take the stage" while security personnel and a search dog checked the venue. The disruption came after a day overshadowed by an undercover report about an apparent Reform UK plot to evade election donation rules, which led to two senior officials being suspended from the party.
Protests and removals during the speech
During his address, Mr Farage's speech was stopped four times as protesters were ejected. One audience member held up a banner reading 'Reform works for billionaires' before being removed. Two women who displayed a banner were booed by attendees who shouted "out" before security escorted them away.
Referring to the protesters, Mr Farage said: "We've got a screamer." Addressing another individual, he added: "Boring." He also joked that ticket prices for next year's conference could be raised to deter protesters.
The speech took place after a day in which the party faced allegations over donation rules. Mr Farage told delegates: "Reform has broken no law. We take compliance extremely seriously. And ask yourself, why is all of this happening? Anyone got a clue why it's happening? Because they're scared of us. That's why it's happening."
Response to the donation allegations
Mr Farage said he would not be "distracted" by "a highly co-ordinated campaign of attacks". He told the conference: "We have been the subject of a highly co-ordinated campaign of attacks. In a sense, it's not surprising. If you think about it, two parties have dominated British politics for over 100 years."
He added: "And around them is a whole ecosystem of membership of the House of Lords, the issuance of government contracts, heads of quangos, and so much else, a whole ecosystem around the century-old two-party system. And we come along and threaten that. They were never going to come out with a tray of gin and tonics, I promise you. But I promise you, we will not be distracted by any of this. We are absolutely determined in what we're doing."
Key policy pledges and election prediction
In his speech, Mr Farage pledged that Reform UK would stop small boats by declaring a national emergency on the issue. He said the party would call a referendum on the composition of the House of Lords and overhaul the appointment of judges and senior civil service figures if those institutions blocked a Reform government's plans.
He told the conference: "Parliament will sit, if necessary, for 24 hours a day, for six days a week until we pass the necessary legislation, and our policies will be explicit in our offering document to the British people. I expect the House of Lords to honour that, as they've done with the Salisbury Convention for over a century. But if they don't, well we will present them with an idea. It's not a new one, it has been used before. We'll appoint hundreds of new peers so that we have a majority in the House of Lords. And if that proves difficult, we will hold a referendum on the current composition of the House of Lords, and they would be swept away by a British public appalled by them."
Mr Farage also said he still believes there will be a general election in the spring of 2027. He told the conference: "I stood on this stage in September 2024, just after our breakthrough general election, and said Starmer's government wouldn't go the full term. I said very clearly that I believed that financial circumstances would force Labour into a spring 2027 election. You know what? I stand by that. I believe there will be an election next spring. And I believe there must be a general election because Andy Burnham has no mandate. The messiah without a mandate."
On the party's future, Mr Farage said: "Now we have frontline experience, now we have frontline people speaking for us in the UK: Scotland, Wales, England. But we've more to do. There are more big jobs to fill, and I'm looking and working on defence, health, and the other areas, and we will get there. We will get there soon."
