What two days at Reform conference taught me about how liberals can win again

The above video is just an extension of this article - but I go into way more detail in the video about Reform conference, what I saw, what I heard, who was there, what it told me about the next general election, all the dirt. Here, I just want to focus on what I think is perhaps the key lesson I took away from Birmingham.

One of the things about Reform conference as compared to the other party conferences - Lib Dem, Labour, Tory, the Greens, SNP - is that the people attending, generally speaking, were far more normal than the people at those other conferences. I spoke to several Reform activists across the two days I was at conference; amongst them was a retired engineer, a nurse, a mechanic, a factory worker and a radiologist. Immigration came up way less than you might imagine - what they talked about more was the state of the NHS, the cost of living and jobs.

They were also surprisingly unpolitical. I made a point of asking each one of them what they thought of Robert Jenrick - the most common answer by a long way to this question was “Who?” They do not obsess about politics or even think about it that much. They are upset by the state of the country and want it to get better. Their logic is simple and easy to understand, even if you disagree: “The Tories completely failed in every possible way. Labour appear to be unable to do anything either. Who is left to try and but Nigel?”

I am telling you all this because I think what is contained in these discussions with Reform activists is the single biggest error liberals are making in 2025. Reform conference was a mass of mostly normal people who just are desperately searching for answers. They aren’t fascists - and calling them that just adds to the distance between them and any other solution. They see the Westminster bubble as being an out of touch elite who don’t understand anything about Britain beyond the confines of inner London. They see Farage as the antidote to that. Now, you might think that’s ridiculous given Farage’s biography, but part of the reason he gets away with it is that he speaks people’s language- at least, way more than every other frontline politician in Britain today.

What I trying to say is that instead of looking at the people who went to Reform conference and calling them all hateful fascists, liberals should engage with why these people are so pissed off with the system and try and engage with them as much as possible. One of the things Reform conference was short on was workable solutions - there were a lot of pledges, but it was difficult to make out the detail. By all means, go after Reform and Farage and their lack of answers, but by having a pop at the people who are taken in by Reform, liberals are making the same mistakes of the EU referendum and its aftermath.

A huge mistake made between late-2016 and the 2019 general election was the constant talking about those who voted Leave as knuckle dragging thugs - a bunch of racists who were filled with hatred. Some of them obviously fit that description, but I’m also very certain there were a lot of terrible people who voted to Remain as well. There was an opportunity to try and appeal to Leave voters - to try and convince them they had been misled by people like Nigel Farage. Instead, liberals basically pushed them into the hands of first Boris Johnson, then Farage.

Perhaps the fate of Farage will be similar to that of Johnson’s - a tragically failed premiership. You could certainly see the aftermath of BJ’s failure in the hall at Reform conference - here were a lot of people who would have voted for the Tories in 2019, now decrying the “Boriswave” and why Johnson was the worst man in Britain. If Reform wins in 2029 - which I’m increasingly thinking that they will - Farage could soon find himself the victim of his own success, much like what happened to Johnson. Given the reigns of power, Farage could also find he doesn't quite know what to do with them. In the meantime, liberals should be thinking about how to win over the people who went to Birmingham to check out Reform - instead of denouncing them all as the unwashed.

As I say, in the video at the top, I go into way more detail- I relate actual stories and anecdotes from the conference and attempt to give you the flavour of the whole thing. Thanks for reading.