Reform UK’s ascendancy to power has at times felt like watching the cliched slow-motion car crash: a wounded Tory party, the rise of rightwing populism across the globe, a damp squib of a Labour government, then – bam! – staggering local election wins accompanied by Nigel Farage grinning on the morning news.
Except, rather than it being a soft collision, you could be forgiven for feeling some whiplash. With the full picture of Thursday’s results now in, one thing is clear: just seven years after forming out of the bones of Ukip and the Brexit party, Reform has had a sweeping victory across large swathes of English councils. Farage’s party gained almost 650 council seats, taking control of ten local authorities.
