Nigel Farage is down but not out - and Reform's cracks are beginning to show

“We’ll be back,” Nigel Farage defiantly declared today as he acknowledged that Reform UK has suffered “a bit of a dip” in recent months.

Speaking exclusively to GB News Chief Political Correspondent Katherine Forster shortly before a Reform rally in Plymouth, the party leader admitted that “our success, ironically, has led to a bit of a dip”.

At the start of this year, Reform enjoyed a 10-point polling lead over Labour, but Labour now holds a five-point lead over them.

During the local elections in May, as well as the Senedd and Holyrood elections in Wales and Scotland, Reform enjoyed spectacular success with its slogan “Vote Reform, get Starmer out”.

Farage explained: “Success is a funny old thing, isn’t it? We had an amazing May 7.

"We wiped out the Labour Party in the North East, in Yorkshire and North West, the West Midlands, East Midlands.”

But those results meant the Labour Party, fearing electoral wipeout at a general election, ditched its unpopular leader in favour of the affable and well-liked Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham.

Mr Farage said: “Andy Burnham would not be Prime Minister if Reform had not done what they'd done.”

However, the Reform UK leader also conceded: “There is a slight Burnham bounce.

“Most of it's come from the Green Party, who have passed a motion at their conference that I think most decent people think is beyond the pale.

“But, you know, this is a game of moving parts. We've had our ups. Yes, our success, ironically, has led to a bit of a dip. We'll be back.”

Mr Farage was speaking alongside Reform MPs and former Conservatives Danny Kruger and Robert Jenrick at what GB News was told was the biggest rally of the party’s “100 Days to Save Britain” tour.

Plymouth voted 60 per cent to leave the European Union, and Reform is now the official opposition on the Labour-run council there.

Although Mr Farage received a rockstar welcome inside the venue, demonstrators outside loudly protested: “Say it loud, say it clear, refugees are welcome here.”

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There were two significant announcements at the rally, including a pledge to exempt Army reservists’ earnings from income tax.

Reform UK already supports making overtime earnings tax-free, while Mr Farage also announced plans for a 50 per cent stake in South West Water.

But beyond the challenge posed by a popular new Prime Minister, Reform faces two other major problems.

The first is the succession of negative stories that have plagued the party for months.

Questions surrounding the £5million gift from crypto-billionaire Christopher Harborne and two undercover investigations are among the most notable controversies.

One investigation broke during Reform’s conference in September, while another was published on Sunday.

Reform’s polling has also been sliding since the spring.

The latest undercover investigation saw councillors describe Muslims as “parasites” and claim that “no more than one per cent of the British population should be non-white”.

One individual also reportedly said: “King Charles is a f****** Muslim.”

Another spoke of becoming Prime Minister and hosting “Sunday morning Rose Garden executions” of grooming gang members.

Opening the rally, Danny Kruger acknowledged the findings, saying: “They found some bad apples and they had to go…there’s no place for people like that in this party.”

His remarks were met with applause from the audience.

Asked how he felt upon hearing the comments, Mr Farage told Katherine Forster: “The most egregious comment that was made was made by somebody who'd come to us from the Conservatives.”

He insisted: “We do our absolute best. We vet candidates to a much higher standard than Labour or the Conservatives do at local elections. But you can't vet for what people say in the future.”

Although he said “I’m not pleased with it," Mr Farage did not appear particularly concerned by the controversy.

“If you spoke to hundreds of Labour or Tory councillors, gave them a glass of beer, tried to provoke them in conversation, you'd get very, very similar types of statements,” he argued.

“So I'm not pleased with it. But some of it, I mean, frankly, you know, I mean, look, there's a snobbery here.

“There is a London, Oxford and Cambridge University snobbery.”

He went on: “Do you think working-class people, when they're talking about the rape gangs in Rochdale or Rotherham, do you think saying they should be executed is an unusual thing?

“I don't support it, but I promise you, that's how many folks speak.”

Reform is also facing a Conservative Party that has recovered in recent polls, with an increasingly confident leader in Kemi Badenoch and some surveys now putting the Tories ahead of Mr Farage’s party.

Asked whether he could assure GB News viewers and listeners that he would definitely lead Reform into the next general election, Farage replied: “I'm committed to doing this.

“Not because it's a career, not because I want rank or title or position.

“But because I want change.

“And I think the ITV investigation and many other things that have been done to us over the course of the last six months are an establishment that wants to stop change.

“They want to keep the two-party system going.

“Tweedledum and Tweedledee, and we all get our knighthoods and our memberships of the House of Lords, and we're not having it.”

Andy Burnham has said there will be no early general election, which would mean a contest in 2029.

However, Farage and many others suspect the Prime Minister could go to the country earlier, potentially as soon as next May.

Farage assured supporters in Plymouth: “We will be ready.”

Despite Farage’s defiant declaration that “we’ll be back”, some are questioning whether the next general election will once again become a contest between Labour and the Conservatives.