Rarely has Britain’s new political landscape come into sharper relief than during the rapid-fire events that unfolded over a hectic lunchtime on Friday. An hour later, Nigel Farage, the leader of the right-wing anti-immigrant party Reform U.K., hurried to the stage at the party’s annual conference in Birmingham, England, to exult in Labour’s misfortune. Ms. Rayner’s resignation was not a major shock after two weeks of questions about her tax problems. But its timing, on the opening day of the Reform conference, gave Mr. Farage a ready-made moment to press his populist case: that the Labour Party and its prime minister, Keir Starmer, are aimless, incompetent and unfit to govern. “We are the party on the rise,” Mr. Farage, an ally of President Trump, said to a cheering crowd in a cavernous convention center, with pulsating lights and flashy pyrotechnics.

Source: The Times September 06, 2025 16:34 UTC