Guardian photojournalist Sean Smith has been following Nigel Farage and Reform UK as they criss-cross the country on a busy schedule of walkabouts and meet-ups with prospective councillors and supporters before the May local elections.
Reform’s campaign started with a series of rallies for supporters and candidates, where they asked attenders who were not already members to join the party and put their names forward as candidates. Now Farage is on a busy schedule of walkabouts and meet-ups with prospective councillors and supporters around the country.
Farage on the Campaign Trail
Farage made his way to the stage to speak about the local elections among other things at a rally at the City Pavilion in Romford in February. Since then, he has been on a high street walkabout with a prospective councillor and billionaire backer, Nick Candy, at the Braintree Outlet Village shopping centre in Essex on 24 April. He also visited Shipley, Yorkshire, on 22 April, and Great Dunmow, near Uttlesford, on 17 April.
At the end of a long day that included Waltham Abbey then Harlow, meeting prospective councillors and going for a walkabout, during which a man rushed out of the barber’s mid-haircut to greet him and do a selfie. Farage also met a fan in a barber shop in Great Dunmow, and some friends with their dogs in Waltham Abbey.
Then came a visit to Crowborough on 15 April, where among others Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Kim Philby lived. The high street was fairly empty, apart from other members of the press, when Farage was shown round by prospective councillors.
Asylum Seeker Camp Visit
After the walkabout Farage went to the site of a cadet training camp that he had visited as a schoolboy that now houses asylum seekers, speaking to photographers, including me. Last year the government announced that about 500 people seeking asylum in the UK would be housed in an army camp on the outskirts of the town in East Sussex. Protests followed and a local volunteer patrol group was started. At the camp he did video for Reform’s YouTube channel and other social media.
Then it was on to Crawley for another walkabout (where, among other people, he meet a group from the Chagos islands), before ending up in Redhill on 15 April. The day ended with a visit to Redhill. Among luminaries who have lived there was Bernard Bresslaw, who was famous as a stalwart of the Carry On Films, Ronnie Biggs, who was living in Alpine Road when he was arrested there for his part in the Great Train Robbery, author Nick Hornby and occultist Aleister Crowley. Happily, there was no satanic naked dancing at the Dog and Duck pub during the meet-and-greet with prospective councillors and supporters.
Walkabouts Across England
There is a walkabout in Dagenham on 10 April, where 60s stars Dudley Moore, Sandie Shaw and 1966 England manager Sir Alf Ramsey lived. The town is also famous for the Ford sewing machinists strike of 1968, dramatised in the film Made in Dagenham. More recently the town made the news on 26 August 2024 because of the Spectrum tower block fire, which engulfed a building with cladding similar to Grenfell. Luckily, this time, a major disaster was averted.
After the walkabout, it’s off to the Forester pub in Chigwell to meet prospective councillors, take questions and have photos taken. More selfies on a walkabout in Welling, where Kate Bush grew up and, infamously, the British National party had its headquarters for five years until the council shut it down after large anti-racist protests. After meeting people in Welling the day finishes with a meeting with supporters and prospective councillors in the Bird in Hand pub in Bromley and, finally, individual photos with each person.
Press Conferences and Rallies
After a press conference at the Saunders Club in Bedworth with Siobhan, the mother of Rhiannon Whyte, who was murdered by an asylum seeker, Farage went on another walkabout, with lots of young people on school holidays wanting selfies. Many industries have gone – the first alloy-bodied Jaguar XK120s were built here in 1948. Some manufacturing remains – Toye, Kenning & Spencer specialises in making hats, banners, flags, medal ribbons and Masonic regalia. Pete Doherty attended the Nicholas Chamberlaine school and Conrad Keely of the American band ...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead was a resident.
Over Easter weekend Farage was in London for a press conference, where he made an Easter message for his supporters that went out on Reform social channels. Robert Jenrick, MP and Reform’s shadow chancellor, joined Farage to hold a press conference on pensions, followed by a tea party with supporters afterwards.
A walkabout with councillors in late March was cut short in Felixstowe, when there was a small protest after his tea shop stop. In the places that Nigel Farage has visited, there has been the occasional cry of “not welcome” or “despicable man” but generally he has had a warm welcome.
Farage had his photo taken with prospective candidates and supporters before a rally at the Circus Tavern entertainment complex in Grays on 18 March. Among the coming attractions were an Ultra Mixed Martial Arts event, a show from Katie Hopkins Free Range tour and comedian Jim Davidson performing in his Last Man Standing … Just tour.
A Basingstoke rally kicked off a day in Hampshire on 10 March, and then it was on to Portsmouth to the pub and then to look around the Tower and the old docks, on the day that HMS Dragon was due to leave for Cyprus. At a press conference in London on local government with mayoral candidate Laila Cunnningham, the former Labour mayor of Newham Sir Robin Wales and ex-councillor Clive Furness announced they had joined Reform UK.
One of a series of rallies in January and February that kicked off the Reform election campaign was a rally and press conference at the NEC Birmingham with all the Reform MPs plus talkshow Jeremy Kyle on 9 February. At a veterans’ rally at old Billingsgate market London, ex-Tory home secretary Suella Braverman announced she was joining Reform on 26 January.
Local elections are notoriously unreliable barometers for predicting general election results. But this time, as the government finds every available hole to fall into - or, if necessary, digs one of its own - things may prove to be different.
