The insurgents are coming - this is the year of Reform

Nigel Farage has the Tories in his sights, and that's just for starters

- Beth Rigby

Political editors of national broadcasters have two main jobs. One is to stick to the Prime Minister like glue, following them on foreign trips, covering speeches and Commons appearances to document No 10’s priorities and pitfalls for a public that will decide whether to give the PM another term. The second is to cover the Leader of the Opposition, to illustrate the alternative for voters and ensure you understand a bit about who you might fancy as the next leader of our country.

So I begin 2025 in a curious position, because the main focus of this year won’t just be the travails of an embattled Sir Keir Starmer. My other job in 2025 is to chart the rise of Reform and its leader, Nigel Farage, as the insurgent political outfit sucks the oxygen away from the Conservative Party — the “official” Opposition. For the Tories are facing a perhaps existential threat from a party and a politician who wants to reclaim the Right as his own.