It hasn’t been a glittering 24 hours for Reform UK. To lose one senior official might be regarded as misfortune etc. However there was no sense of impending doom at the Reform conference in Birmingham – indeed, in his speech Mr Farage obliquely referred to recent events as ‘a little local difficulty’. 

These events are not like other conferences. They’re a strange fusion between political frustration and high camp. Think Liberace does the Battle of Orgreave. Speakers are announced with rock music and spotlights, the audience are bathed in a strange blue glow, making the NEC seem like a cross between a day spa and a level on the Crystal Maze.

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Outside the main speeches were interspersed with interviews and questions from the floor curated by none other than Jeremy Kyle. ‘Mouth on the mic’, puckered Kyle as an Alternative for Deutschland member with an unpronounceable name approached what Kyle was calling ‘the people’s mic’. ‘Not a clue!’ breathed Kyle as an aside while the German tried to ask a question about........

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