Ex-Reform chief urges Nigel Farage to ‘have a break’

The former chief of Reform UK has urged Nigel Farage to "have a bit of a break" from leading the party. He insisted that the party is "way bigger" than the current leader and said Farage should "take some time out" from the stress of being in charge.

Dr David Bull, who served as the chairman of Reform until he was replaced by Lee Anderson in May, issued the advice on Channel 5. However, it is believed that Farage, the MP for Clacton, has been cutting back on weekend activities in order to focus his energy on leading Reform.

As reported by the Daily Mail, Mr Bull said: "I've been there since the beginning with Richard Tice, for example. I'm very proud of what we've done, and what we're now doing is professionalising the party. The party is bigger than Nigel, the party is way bigger than Nigel.

"Politics is a ruthless business, and I think also one of the other things I would say to [Farage] as a friend and a colleague is he needs to take some time out and have a bit of a break, really."

On the rise of Restore Britain, he added: "I think we've been on such a roller coaster, and to build a political party, it's quite interesting. I will just mention Restore and Rupert Lowe, for example. I think what Rupert's finding is that to build a political party is incredibly difficult. It takes a lot of time, a lot of effort, a lot of people."

Mr Bull stood down from his role last month after become "physically very unwell". He added that his tenure as chairman "nearly killed me off".

He explained: "I saw 30,000 people around the country in working men's clubs, village halls, etc. I took the membership from 90,000 to 268,000.

"We became the fastest growing political party in the country, the largest political party in this country. And I kind of felt that actually I couldn't, literally being on the road for a year is really hard work.

"The rise of Reform across the United Kingdom has been extraordinary. I then had to make a decision. I wasn't very well at the end of that."