Reform is facing questions about explicit links to the nationalist hard right after Ryan Bridge, a co-founder of the anti-migrant Raise the Colours group, was given a prominent platform at Reform\u2019s conference, where Farage pledged to \u201clegally back\u201d him.<\/p>\n
Bridge, who was on bail and was charged this week<\/a> with 14 offences including racially aggravated harassment, has worked closely with the leader of Patriot Platform, Daniel Thomas. Bridge has said he has no association with Patriot Platform.<\/p>\n The starkest public example of Reform divisions over Patriot Platform played out publicly in Portsmouth on Monday after police had clashed with activists wearing balaclavas.<\/a><\/p>\n Thomas gatecrashed a visit by the party\u2019s home affairs spokesperson, Zia Yusuf, to tell him that events had been misreported. \u201cI take your word for it,\u201d Yusuf told him. Yusuf later reflected that Thomas \u2013 a convicted criminal and long-term associate of the activist who calls himself Tommy Robinson \u2013 made his points \u201crespectfully\u201d and challenged Kemi Badenoch\u2019s condemnation of the group. \u201cHow dare you call them \u2018thugs\u2019,\u201d Yusuf told the Conservative leader on X.<\/p>\n The Patriot Platform founder Daniel Thomas, left, speaks to the Reform UK home affairs spokesperson, Zia Yusuf, in Portsmouth on Monday. Photograph: Theo Shaw\/PA<\/p>\n Yusuf and other senior Reform figures including Richard Tice, Robert Jenrick and the leader of the party\u2019s flagship county council, Kent, have criticised the use of face coverings by the new far-right group. But often in the same breath there has been tacit backing for their aims.<\/p>\n \u201cHow about your government stops the boats instead? Then people wouldn\u2019t feel the need to protest over the invasion of the country \u2026 just a thought,\u201d said the Kent council leader, Linden Kemkaran, whose council includes Dover.<\/p>\n Yet elsewhere \u2013 as highlighted by the anti-fascist group Hope Not Hate \u2013 others have been willing to go further.<\/p>\n \u201cThose patriots in Portsmouth have done more to stop the invasion than the last seven governments put together,\u201d said the Dudley councillor Andrew Southall, while the Portsmouth councillor Emily Strudwick spoke of \u201ca great sense of community\u201d at the protest, which she attended.<\/p>\n There is also, unusually, evidence of open dissent in Reform towards Farage himself.<\/p>\n \u201cWe know there are strong feelings circulating today about Nigel\u2019s comments regarding the Dover protest. We want to address it head on as a group,\u201d the Tameside councillor Sharon Barker wrote on Facebook.<\/p>\n \u201cMany of the people at that march were brave, passionate patriots who had very real reasons for covering their faces, including the very real fear of losing their jobs simply for standing up for Britain.\u201d<\/p>\n Her group leader, Allan Hopwood, told the Guardian that the subject was \u201cparticularly emotive\u201d, insisting the focus was on democratic politics. A factor in Tameside is that Reform locally is at the sharp end of the threat posed by the rightwing rival Rupert Lowe\u2019s Restore Britain.<\/p>\n But on the question of face coverings worn by the activists, Hopwood said: \u201cThese are people who clearly have a patriotic agenda and are concerned about the women and children of this country, but they are also acutely aware there will be media who want to propagandise things. They will have jobs they want to protect and unfortunately we\u2019re in a position where people are reluctant to make their identities known.\u201d<\/p>\n During the Reform conference, Farage told Bridge of Raise the Colours that its campaign \u2013 which put up flags around England in circumstances that many people saw as intimidating \u2013 had been \u201cphenomenal\u201d and he would pass the group\u2019s proposal to partner with Reform-led councils on to the party\u2019s lawyers, an exchange that has been shared widely on social media.<\/p>\n Bridge told the Guardian on Thursday that he had received a lot of interest from Reform councillors about his proposal and the party was considering the plans. \u201cSpecific councils are in acknowledgment of what we are trying to roll out and propose. It\u2019s very, very positive from Clacton to Norfolk to Wales. Last night, I spoke to councillors in Burnley, it\u2019s literally the whole country,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt felt like we were in a comfortable, safe environment of like-minded British patriots and people that want better for the country,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The praise for Patriot Platform among some in Reform and ties to Raise the Colours come at a perilous moment for Farage as he seeks to nudge up Reform\u2019s flatlining poll numbers by tempting wavering Tory voters.<\/p>\n While he is fond of laying claim to being the man who killed off the British National party when it was competing with Ukip a decade ago, Reform faces an acute electoral danger of losing voters on its right to Restore Britain.<\/p>\n Reform UK was approached for comment.<\/p>\n Get in touch<\/p>\n Contact us about this story<\/p>\n The best public interest journalism relies on first-hand accounts from people in the know. If you have something to share on this subject, you can contact us confidentially using the following methods:<\/p>\n Secure Messaging in the Guardian app<\/p>\n The Guardian app has a tool to send tips about stories. Messages are end to end encrypted and concealed within the routine activity that every Guardian mobile app performs. This prevents an observer from knowing that you are communicating with us at all, let alone what is being said.<\/p>\n If you don\u2019t already have the Guardian app, download it (iOS<\/a>\/Android<\/a>) and go to the menu. Select \u2018Secure Messaging\u2019. <\/p>\n SecureDropIf you can safely use the tor network without being observed or monitored you can send messages and documents to the Guardian via our SecureDrop platform.<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Masked](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1789122491_432_Masked_protesters_march_in_Dover--729c28b1-4661-4f14-b0dc-868f3e9b16fe-2.0.0000000.jpg\")
Masked protesters march in Dover<\/p>\n