Britain’s major political parties are struggling to deal with the growing popularity of the far-right party led by a Donald Trump-like maverick. Nigel Farage’s Reform UK Party is right now at the centre of British politics despite his anti-immigration party having just four members in Parliament, including himself.

This was on full display earlier this week at the annual conference of the governing Labour Party, where Farage and his party were the main topic of debate — and targets of attack. Delegates decided to display their patriotism by waving not only the Union Jack but also flags representing England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, as if to reclaim patriotism from Reform UK.

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Labour in panic

Speaker after speaker, including Prime Minister Keir Starmer, called Farage racist, an enemy, and even one who doesn’t love his country, scenes usually witnessed at right-wing events. It was, therefore, remarkable that a left-of-centre party, which came to power just over a year ago with a landslide victory, was behaving in this manner instead of discussing its policies. And when some policy announcements were made, they were also largely in response to what Farage had been raising.

For example, the new Pakistani-origin Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, announced that the government will impose stricter conditions on those seeking permanent residency status in the UK (known as indefinite leave to remain