Farage cashes in his chips
Thu 12:03 pm +00:00, 20 Feb 2025Nigel Farage gives up control of Reform UK to make party more democratic
LONDON (Reuters) – Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage has given up formal control of his Reform UK political party, which is currently leading in opinion polls, as he seeks to professionalise the structure to help him win the next general election.
Reform has been registered as a private company, with Farage running it since 2018 as the majority shareholder, an arrangement that gave him unusual amount of control for a British political party.
On Wednesday, Farage and Richard Tice, the deputy party leader, gave up their more than 90% shareholding in Reform UK Party Limited, according to filings with Companies House, the UK corporate register, reviewed by Reuters.
The party will now be controlled by a renamed entity called REFORM 2025 LTD, the filings show, and Reform will eventually be controlled by its more than 200,000 members.
“We are pleased to announce that, as promised, Nigel Farage has handed over ownership of Reform UK to its members,” party Chairman Zia Yusuf said in a statement. He said Reform UK was now a non-profit organisation, with no shareholders.
Earlier this month, Reform overtook Britain’s governing Labour Party to become the country’s most popular political party in a major opinion poll for the first time, reflecting growing unhappiness with Prime Minister Keir Starmer seven months into his premiership.
(Reporting by Andrew MacAskill; Editing by Kate Holton)
TAP – How does an Ltd have no shareholders and not be required to make a profit to survive? Ltd means limited liability protecting the shareholders from the liabilities of the company. Farage has watered down his shareholding and TIce, and they have sold off 90% of the business to other investors who have decided to remain anonymous. They made £20 million out of the Brexit Party, and would not want to make less out of Reform. Retaining only 10% suggests they might have sold for say £10 million to powertful financial or political interests – it could even be Dumpster connected money. Will we ever know? Whatever else Farage shows no real appetite to be Prime Minister, no doubt preferring a back seat out of the firing line, as the military sell-out to the US is performed, and young Englishmen are sent to die in foxholes in Ukraine.
