Reform’s circles of influence: who’s who at the top of the party

Nigel Farage’s Reform party is being driven by a close-knit group of rightwing, male advisers, with the party chair, Zia Yusuf, at the helm and the treasurer, Nick Candy, raising money. Here are the key players at the top.

First circle

Zia Yusuf A former entrepreneur who founded a concierge company, the new Reform chair, aged 38, is in charge of day-to-day operations and has overseen a drive to professionalise the party. He has hired his own chief of staff, Matthew MacKinnon, a Welsh former Conservative who in 2012 was given a civil ban from football grounds after pleading guilty to disorder. The ban was lifted two years later after he made an application to end it.

Nick Candy A developer who owns the most expensive property in the UK, valued at about £150m, Candy is Reform’s treasurer. He has personally pledged a seven-figure sum to the party and spearheaded a fundraising drive among wealthy donors. His importance to Farage was underlined by him accompanying the party leader on a US trip to see Elon Musk in December. Reform says “Candy has no operational involvement in the party beyond helping raise funds.”

Second circle

Arron Banks A former Ukip donor and a Trump supporter, Banks has not donated for a while. However, he is still in Farage’s coterie, attending big events and moving in the same Maga circles in the US.

George Cottrell Somewhat mysteriously, Cottrell has no official role in the party, though he is regularly at Farage’s side. He often turns up at events slightly before the party leader and has been present on the sidelines of recent press conferences. Cottrell, 31, has previously been convicted of wire fraud in the US. His mother donated £500,000 to Reform last year.

Dan Jukes A longterm aide to Farage, he has had the job title of director of communications since the age of 19. Now 28, he has been a constant during the leader’s political career, covering his time in the European parliament and as part of Leave.EU, the unofficial Brexit campaign.

Richard Tice The party’s deputy leader, Tice is still friendly with Farage despite having been replaced by him as leader last year, though insiders say the pair are not as close as they were. Tice became the MP for Boston and Skegness in Lincolnshire last year.

Reform MPs

The other MPs are Lee Anderson, James McMurdock and Rupert Lowe, who are important figureheads for the party but not part of Farage’s core circle.

Lowe is a former Southampton football club chair and the MP for Great Yarmouth, who enjoys a cult following among some Reform supporters and has been endorsed by Musk as an alternative leader.

Anderson, the MP for Ashfield in Nottinghamshire, was a high-profile defector from the Tories, having previously been a Labour staffer.

The backroom team

The party’s media operation is crucial. As well as Jukes, it includes Aaron Lobo, a former GB News and LBC producer, who is now a freelancer but integral to Reform’s operation.

Others are Ed Sumner, another Welsh former Tory, who runs Reform’s press operation, and Jack Anderton, a digital chief specialising in YouTube and social media. Archie Manners, a prankster and magician, is helping with TikTok and other social media.

Graham Young, a former gamekeeper, and Adam Bounds are Reform’s national campaign managers.

The party has installed a number of former Tories in key roles. Its head of policy is a former Conservative candidate, Simon Marcus, who last ran in 2015. Richard Murphy was poached from Conservative campaign headquarters (CCHQ) to run a new “centre of excellence for candidates”. Michael Hadwen, a veteran of Robert Jenrick’s Conservative leadership campaign, and Luigi Murton, another former CCHQ Tory, are also working on strategy. One insider said the only senior woman at Reform HQ is Kiera Hubbard, who runs events, although the party insists it has many female employees in its headquarters and elsewhere.

Others

Some higher-profile figures have left the party, such as the former co-deputy leader Ben Habib and Howard Cox, the party’s 2024 London mayoral candidate, but others act as media outriders or have come to the fore.

Ann Widdecombe, the former Conservative minister, and Andrea Jenkyns, the former Tory MP and now Reform’s mayoral candidate in Lincolnshire, are key figures.

Rael Braverman, the husband of the Conservative former home secretary Suella Braverman, recently joined Reform and was at the party’s fundraiser in Mayfair last month.