𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Richard Tice is excited. Reform UK activists from across the country are about to converge in Birmingham for the party’s “biggest conference ever”.

“This is huge,” he says – but his blue eyes light up even brighter when he sets out his ambitions for how the party can change Britain. The former property developer wants to transform high streets and unleash a council housebuilding revolution for British workers under 35.

The 61-year-old describes the state of town centres as a “national emergency” but he is confident the “spiral of decline” can be broken with the right planning changes and tax incentives.

“I’ve always loved building,” he enthuses. “I come from a family of builders, contractors, property people… It’s something I know I can deliver.”

One of his most spectacular building projects has been transforming the Brexit Party into Reform UK and seeing it win, by its own tally, more than 270,000 members.

He compares the party’s team to “the perfect cocktail on a Saturday night”, pointing to the business backgrounds of himself, Nigel Farage and Zia Yusuf, and the experience in Government of ex-Conservatives Robert Jenrick and Suella Braverman.

Already, he argues, Reform has changed Britain.

“Thanks to us, British Steel has been saved,” he says, taking credit for pushing Labour into bringing the company into public ownership; a priority now is “refurbishing the existing two blast furnaces in Scunthorpe”.

And he also also puts the recent change of prime minister down to Reform’s campaigning.

“We take the credit for getting Keir Starmer out,” he says. “Our slogan in the May elections, when we did amazingly [and] terrified Labour, was: Vote Reform, Get Starmer Out. And people voted Reform, and they got Starmer out.”

How will Reform adjust its strategy now that Mr Burnham and John Healey have replaced Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves as prime minister and Chancellor?

“We’ll just put forward great policies,” he says, adding: “Look, we want our country to do well. We’re full of hope and optimism that we can save it. We can stop the relentless decline [under] the Tories and Labour, and we can turn it around.”

Just as Margaret Thatcher transformed the lives of families across the nation and strengthened Britain’s reputation as a property-owning democracy by giving tenants the right to buy their council home, he wants people to end up owning the houses he plans to build.

“When you have a stake in your street, your house, your community, you invest in it, you look after it better, and you urge people in the same street to look after their properties better, because that then increases the value of everybody’s properties, and that’s a great thing,” he says.

But he does not intend to replicate the Conservative policy in every detail: “The mistake back then was not to reinvest the proceeds into building more council homes.”

Nobody would call Mr Tice a policy wonk but his excitement for this project is palpable: “I would be thrilled if people said, Reform rebuilt my community, they rebuilt my town centre, and they helped me get on the housing ladder, and they helped me as a young Brit get a stake in my street, a stake in my community, a stake in my town or village… And for all of us involved, but particularly for me as a builder, that would be an incredible legacy.”

When asked if he thinks the spirit of Thatcher is now more alive in Reform than the Conservatives, he declares: “Let’s call it the spirit of Tice as we look forward!”

He suspects voters may get to vote for a change of government long before the last possible date for a general election in August 2029, and expects the looming autumn Budget will be a flashpoint for the nation: “I think that John Healey will be forced to raise taxes, and that will be even more catastrophic… We’ve said for over a year that we need to prepare for a 2027 election because the finances of the country are in such a terrible, perilous state.”

Reform remains a controversial party, with Mr Tice an unashamed opponent of net zero policies.

Setting out his own priority, he says: “We need more energy use, not less. And to do that, you’ve got to have cheap energy.”

He adds: “I describe net zero as, alongside mass low-skilled immigration, the greatest policy mistake made by the wallies in Westminster this century.”

The Greens have pointed to this summer’s scorching temperatures as a demonstration of why the country must not unleash more carbon emissions by drilling new fields in the North Sea.

Mr Tice argues that while “climate change is real” it “would be much cheaper and smarter to adapt to it than think that you can stop it”.

He is frustrated at the scale of Britain’s energy imports and fears for national security: “What happens if the Russians chop the interconnectors?”

Reform may trigger further controversy when the conference is addressed by Jordan Bardella, the 30-year-old Right-winger who is seen as Marine Le Pen’s heir apparent in the National Rally party.

France, Mr Tice says, is “one of our dear neighbours, and it’s really important that we have a very strong relationship with him. And so it makes complete sense to reinforce that. And stopping the boats is absolutely critical, and he understands that, and he understands that our plans to ‘rescue and return’ are a vital part of that. You’re not going to stop them any other way. It’s as simple as that.”

Reform has devoted fans – many of whom will assemble at the Birmingham venue later this week. But winning the next election will involve reaching out to less ardent admirers.

This challenge does not faze Mr Tice: “In business, you don’t have to like the person you’re doing business with in order to do business… And the same is true in politics. Voters don’t have to like everybody in Reform. They might not like me… What they have to assess is: who’s going to get the job done? Who’s got the most experience? Who’s the bravest? And who might work the hardest?”

Much of Reform’s attention this summer has been focused on fighting the Clacton by-election.

The contest – triggered by Mr Farage after he faced an investigation into a £5million donation – was boycotted by Britain’s major parties. But Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has pledged to put forward a “serious candidate” if the resumed investigation culminates in another by-election.

If the citizens of Clacton are asked whether they want to go to the polls again, Mr Tice expects they will say: “For heaven’s sake, why didn’t you listen to us the first time? We’re not doing this, we’re done… We like Nigel, we want more Nigel.”

This longtime ally of Mr Farage is in no doubt why his Brexiteer comrade wants to be prime minister: “Nigel’s drive as leader of this party is to make stuff happen.”

This team of political mavericks has already shaken up British politics but Mr Tice has only just started delivering on his ambitions. He relishes the razzmatazz of conference but it will be an enduring delight if thousands of young Britons grow up in a home he helped build.