Reform UK just gave us another lesson in how it operates.

On Tuesday (August 26, 2025), the party unveiled a shocking new line: unaccompanied child migrants could be deported under its five-year plan.

By Wednesday, Nigel Farage was already rowing back, saying child deportations were “not part of our plan for the next five years.”

One day, children were in the frame; the next, they were not.

It looked like chaos. But was it really? Or was it part of a deeper pattern?

A Bluesky user cut to the chase

Reacting to the news, one commentator wrote:

“Just apes what Trump does in the USA. Sound bite politics, designed to stir up the worst in people. ReformUK is a party of hate, division, racism, xenophobia, homophobia and not much else.”

Blunt? Yes. But that’s pretty close to the mark…

Trump-style tactics in a plummy British accent

Reform UK’s playbook mirrors Trumpism almost line-for-line:

• Shock and retreat: Announce something incendiary (like child deportations), then backpedal once the outrage has made headlines.

• Soundbite politics: The slogan matters more than the policy detail. “Stop the boats” or “net-zero immigration” works because it’s simple and emotive — never mind that it collapses under scrutiny.

• Perpetual outrage: Every row, U-turn and contradiction keeps Reform in the news cycle. For a small party, dominating attention is the goal.

Farage is a veteran of this game. The trick isn’t to be coherent but to keep the spotlight on him.

What’s the ideology behind this?

It would be wrong to say Reform has no ideology. It does — but not in the traditional sense of left or right economics. Instead, it draws from the global family of right-wing populist nationalist movements:

• Nativism: Framing immigrants, asylum seekers and minorities as threats to “ordinary” UK citizens.

• Authoritarianism: Willingness to override international treaties and rights protections to enforce mass deportations.

• Culture war framing: Attacks on “woke” culture, climate policy, and minority rights — all echoing US Republican talking points.

• Economic opportunism: Swinging between promises of fiscal restraint and massive spending pledges, depending on what plays best in the moment.

This isn’t a coherent programme of government.

It’s a marketing strategy in political form: tailor the message to inflame, retreat when cornered, then move on to the next outrage.

‘A party of hate, division, xenophobia…’?

The Bluesky comment used strong words — but political scientists studying Europe’s populist right would recognise the description.

• Racism and xenophobia: Central to Reform’s rhetoric on migration.

• Division as strategy: Always creating in-groups (“the people”) and out-groups (“illegals,” “woke elites”).

• Homophobia and culture war: Present in the party’s framing of LGBTQ+ rights and “gender ideology.”

This isn’t just sloppy politics. It’s an intentional mode of campaigning.

Why it matters

Each Reform UK U-turn isn’t just embarrassing — it’s revealing. It shows a party less interested in building policy than in weaponising attention.

Announce. Retreat. Repeat.

That’s not confusion — it’s the strategy.

But if this is how Reform UK behaves in opposition, lobbing soundbites and scrambling after every backlash, the question writes itself:

How could such a party ever govern?