They say all’s fair in love and politics. Despite their meteoric rise in the polls in recent months, it’s not been plain sailing for Reform UK.
In this no-holds-barred exclusive with CIBUK-Brexit Facts4EU.Org, the Party’s former co-deputy leader Ben Habib blows the lid on his fundamental disagreements with Nigel Farage which has led him to resign from Reform UK in spectacular fashion, only months after he stood at the last General Election as its candidate for Wellingborough and Rushden.
What will this mean for the future of Britain’s principal insurgent party? Will it go the way of all others, and fall foul of factional infighting? In a fascinating insight into life behind the scenes, Ben Habib goes to town on the reasons behind his resignation which strike at the very heart and identity of Reform UK itself.
This is not to be missed.
EXCLUSIVE : Ben Habib reacts to Nigel Farage’s “bitter and twisted” jibe in his GB News interview
“I was being banned, I was being silenced… Enough is enough. If I’m not even allowed to speak to the party, then it’s time I left.”
.
“No doubt it was a ‘champagne moment’ for Nigel, but it wasn’t one for me.”
The explosive report of our exclusive interview on Sunday with Ben Habib
In our exclusive video interview with Ben Habib on Sunday morning (01 Dec), live-streamed on YouTube and Zoom, we asked Ben Habib why he quit Reform UK and what he thought of Nigel Farage’s comments about him, following Mr Habib’s announcement on Thursday last week.
Ben Habib chose his words carefully. We asked him specifically for his reaction to the comments Mr Farage made in his interview with GB News on Friday last week (29 Nov 2024). Below we reveal all.
Firstly, here’s Nigel, courtesy of GB News
Nigel Farage described Ben Habib’s departure from Reform UK as a “champagne moment” and “absolute icing on the cake” in a frank interview on GB News.
In their report on the interview Michelle Dewberry did with Nigel Farage on Friday, the GB News website described Mr Farage’s comments as ‘a scathing attack’. Here is what the Reform UK Leader said about Ben Habib.
“He’s gone very bitter, very twisted. It’s very sad.”
“The fact that he’s walked away, frankly, is a huge relief”.
Click image to watch
Mr Farage made these comments in the course of an interview he gave following the announcement that Dame Andrea Jenkyns had resigned from the Conservative Party and has joined Reform UK.
Here is Ben Habib responding to our questions about Nigel Farage’s comments
We start with our video interview, which lasts 14 minutes. For readers in a location where it is difficult to watch and listen to the video, below the video we have given a selection of extracts from what Ben Habib had to say.
An appeal to you
The video production costs for Sunday’s event are now £1,240.
This includes the new video above and the other videos for the full event on sovereignty, democracy, and Northern Ireland, to be published in the coming days.
So far we’ve raised £845. Can you help us by donating towards the remaining £395?
Every few pounds helps to keep us fighting for Brexit,
and for independence, sovereignty, democracy and freedom. Please help our work today if you can:
Donating takes just two minutes and your details are kept confidential.
Summary
.
A selection of key quotes from the interview
“I was deputy leader and I helped put Reform on the map. We went from 6% in the polls when I joined the party to 16% just before the general election.”
“When you sign up to Reform, you pay your 25 quid and you get the right to receive an email. You don’t get the right to vote on anything.”
“You can’t convert a company limited by shares to one limited by guarantee, you would need to set up a new company. It’s not legally possible to make that conversion. No new company been set up. No new applications have been made to the Electoral Commission in the United Kingdom to register a new company in the way that Nigel promised he would do it. And the new constitution such as it is, also hasn’t had an application made to have it approved by the Electoral Commission and therefore capable of being implemented by the party.”
“So Nigel hasn’t democratised the party and I have serious doubts whether that will ever happen.”
“I was being banned, silenced”
“I heard that I was being banned, I was being silenced. I thought, well, you know, enough is enough. If they don’t want me to speak, if I’m not even allowed to speak to the party, then you know, it’s time I left. So no doubt it was a champagne moment for Nigel, but it wasn’t one for me.”
“The final straw for me for leaving the party, Leigh, was my being banned from by the HQ of Reform, from meeting grassroots members of so-called members – subscribers, promoters, campaigners – across the country.”
“Nigel says Brexit’s done and I say it’s not done”
“He said that I’ve attacked him personally. I haven’t attacked Nigel personally. I challenge him to find any attacks I’ve made on him personally. Yes, I have attacked his position on Northern Ireland. I’ve attacked his position on Brexit. I’ve attacked his acceptance of the rapid demographic change in the country.”
“I think mass deportations should take place. And we’ve got some other ideas, other ideological differences. And I disagree with him on the constitution of the party, seemingly, but it’s not personal.”
“I would gladly go back to my full time day job, which is running a property company.”
Q: “Why does he have to attack you?” A: “I don’t know. I think he’d had a bad day.”
“He’s probably a bit p****d off.”
Observations
Firstly, we are grateful to Ben Habib for giving up his time on a Sunday morning to speak to us. This was in fact only possible because a previous engagement had been cancelled by Reform Head Office. He had been due to speak to a gathering of Reform campaigners in Runcorn, Cheshire. It was partly this which drove Mr Habib to take the decision he did, and leave Reform UK.
The impression we formed during the interview was that here is a man who is not angry, nor ‘bitter and twisted’, but rather deeply saddened by the course of events. The other major thing which emerges from the interview is that Ben Habib is a principled man and a conviction politician – somewhat rare qualities in politics these days.
Ben Habib and Reform UK
This parting of the ways between Ben Habib and Reform UK had of course been in the making for months. This is based primarily on three main points of difference. Mr Habib believes passionately that Northern Ireland should regain its place as a full part of the United Kingdom. Secondly he believes that “Brexit is not done”, which partly follows from the first point. And finally he feels that Reform UK’s structure must be changed with all due speed to make it into a party controlled by its Members. Currently it is controlled by its two shareholders, Nigel Farage and Richard Tice.
We can’t comment on any arrangements underway to change the party’s current structure, as we are not aware of these. We do know that in the party’s early days Nigel was anxious to prevent large numbers of hostile individuals joining as members purely in order to destroy it. This now seems less likely, given that Reform UK has over 100,000 paid supporters.
In the interest of balance we asked Reform UK to respond to Ben Habib’s accusations and observations, but they declined.
COMING UP – the rest of the fascinating content from Sunday’s event
This interview forms part of a longer video for the Global Discussion Forum last Sunday (plus some ‘shorts’ for social media), where Ben Habib was one of the three guest speakers. That Forum was mainly about sovereignty, democracy, and Northern Ireland. The event was popular and lively. We will be publishing the full video in the next day or so, but we felt it appropriate to separate out the comments from Ben Habib about Reform UK and his decision to leave, and to put these into a short video featuring Ben, which is what we have done for today’s report.
As a result, GB News – with whom we shared the above prior to publication – will be running this story today or tomorrow.
Finally, we appealed to readers to help to fund all the video production costs for Sunday’s event and the subsequent films and ‘shorts’ we will be running. We would like to thank those readers who generously contributed. We are still short of our revised target by £395 – can you please help:
The original report and interview can be found on our affiliate website here.
Main image: montage © Facts4EU.Org 2024
