Despite only having eight MPs, Farage has positioned himself as the opposition to Labour in the House of Commons. His frontbench includes two former Tory ministers Robert Jenrick and Suella Braverman.
But while answering questions from journalists following the announcements, Farage lashed out at FT political correspondent Anna Gross when she asked about the party’s immigration plans and positions on private schools.
Zia Yusuf, who is not an MP, was named home affairs spokesman, promising to cut both legal and illegal migration, including by withdrawing from any international treaty preventing mass deportations.
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Farage and Yusuf previously said they would deport 600,000 asylum seekers under Reform’s immigration plan.
From the audience, Gross directed her first question at Yusuf, asking: “You’ve no doubt seen the incredibly violent scenes unfolding at the hands of ICE in the US, and yet you boasted about creating the UK version of that here to round up hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants and deport them.
“Do you really believe that the British public want a Trump 2.0 immigration policy?
“And my second question is to you, Suella [Braverman], you went to a private school that charges “17,000 a year…”
Farage interrupted and said: “Oh dear, you better emigrate I think clearly appalling, what a terrible human being.”
FT political correspondent Anna Gross at the Reform UK press conference (Image: YouTube)
After laughter from the audience, Gross continued: “Not at all, Richard [Tice], Nigel, Robert and Zia I believe went to expensive private schools…”
Farage could then be heard muttering, “Very good, what fun”.
Gross continued: “What do you say to members of the public who might query your party’s commitment and belief in state education, and are you able to confirm whether your children go to state schools?”
Farage responded: “By the way, I love the FT, the day after the big Mandelson story broke, your front page politics story was about a Reform councillor in Kent, so we’ll leave it there.”
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The Reform UK leader appears to refer to a report where Matthew Fraser Moat, a Reform councillor in Kent who was the head of the party’s Elon Musk-inspired cost-cutting drive at the local authority, had quit his post.
After cheers from the audience, Farage could be seen throwing his arms out in exasperation, adding: “There’s no point, there’s no point, just write some silly story tomorrow, we won’t bother to read it.”
Farage also shook his hand in the direction of the audience, appearing to dismiss Gross.
He then moved on to take a question from the Guardian.