{"id":744180,"date":"2026-08-20T15:46:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T15:46:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/744180\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T15:46:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T15:46:12","slug":"tice-defends-suspension-of-reform-uk-activist-over-farage-criticism-reform-uk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/744180\/","title":{"rendered":"Tice defends suspension of Reform UK activist over Farage criticism | Reform UK"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reform UK\u2019s deputy leader has defended the party\u2019s suspension of a senior activist who criticised Nigel Farage, saying internal disagreements should be kept \u201cbehind closed doors\u201d.<\/p>\n

Richard Tice, who is also the party\u2019s business spokesperson, made the comments as he unveiled a new policy of subsidising more apprenticeships, paid for by cutting student loans for foreign nationals and those studying what he termed \u201cMickey Mouse\u201d degrees.<\/p>\n

Reform UK has been stalling in the polls in recent months after questions about Farage\u2019s financial affairs, with a personal \u00a35m gift from Thailand-based billionaire Christopher Harborne under investigation by parliament\u2019s standards watchdog.<\/p>\n

The party has also faced splits over the actions of Zia Yusuf, its home affairs spokesperson, who described senior Tory Ben Wallace, a former defence secretary, as a \u201ctraitor\u201d.<\/p>\n

The decision to suspend Tim Montgomerie<\/a>, a high-profile activist who defected from the Conservatives, came after he criticised Farage\u2019s decision not to attend the count when he won the Clacton byelection, and said the leader had shown a \u201ctoo dominant aggrieved tone\u201d, arguing that \u201cyou don\u2019t skip your own victory count without a much better explanation\u201d.<\/p>\n

Montgomerie, who had posed with Farage when he joined the party, was informed earlier this week of his suspension.<\/p>\n

Asked at a press conference whether the party had become too thin-skinned and unable to take criticism, Tice said it was \u201cfar from\u201d the case and Reform was beginning to climb again in the polls. He added: \u201cWe\u2019re not afraid of competition, voters have got more choice and none of us have ever claimed we are perfect \u2026 we get lots right, we make mistakes, we push on.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said in relation to Montgomerie: \u201cWe are a fast-growing political party. There will be a range of views and sometimes we will agree and sometimes we will have a debate and discussion \u2026 but what we\u2019ve always said is that when you\u2019re having your discussions about those things, in the nicest possible way, as you would in a boardroom or a brainstorming sessions in a company, is that you keep it behind closed doors and then you go out and sell a message.\u201d<\/p>\n

Suella Braverman at the Reform press conference about apprenticeships in north London. Photograph: Andy Rain\/EPA<\/p>\n

At the event in Enfield, north London, Tice was appearing alongside Suella Braverman<\/a>, the party\u2019s education spokesperson and former Conservative cabinet minister.<\/p>\n

They announced they would change apprenticeships to bring in a \u201cwage credit\u201d offering small- and medium-sized businesses a 30% rebate on the salaries of those aged 16-18. She also said the party backed an \u201capprenticeship retention bonus\u201d of \u00a32,000 a worker to be paid when they have completed two additional years of work at the firm they apprenticed with.<\/p>\n

The party estimated the wage subsidy would cost between \u00a31.5bn and \u00a32bn over the course of a five-year parliament, saying it would be \u201cpartially covered by making significant savings from banning all foreign students from accessing taxpayer-funded loans and cracking down on taxpayer-funded Mickey Mouse degrees from third-rate universities\u201d.<\/p>\n

Braverman warned students getting their results this week not to \u201cwaste your time studying for a pointless degree at a mediocre university\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether it\u2019s gender studies, whether it\u2019s golf course studies, I think I\u2019ve seen there\u2019s not a necessity. There\u2019s not a value in many of these degrees,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow I know that might be uncomfortable to those people who have those qualifications, but the reality is you\u2019ve got to ask yourself: what are your graduate outcomes looking like?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Reform UK\u2019s deputy leader has defended the party\u2019s suspension of a senior activist who criticised Nigel Farage, saying…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":744181,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-744180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=744180"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744180\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/744181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=744180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=744180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=744180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}