Ben Habib speaks of 'long-held concerns' of party
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Ex-Reform UK deputy leader Ben Habib poured scorn on his former party today, warning that he now fears for the future of the right-wing insurgency under its current leadership.
Mr Habib, who was unceremoniously sacked by Nigel Farage last month as part of a post-election reshuffle, slammed the party as “not democratic”.
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Criticising Mr Farage’s grip on the party, Mr Habib told Times Radio: “The challenge for Reform now is can it go from being an insurgency shouting on the sidelines with two or three, you know, articulate speakers at the top of the party making the case to being a proper political party?”
“In other words, actually being democratised, behaving like a party as opposed to a company which is, as I mentioned, yeah, yeah, you know, behaving like a political party, democratising itself, giving people the ability to appoint the leadership of the party.”
Referring to the party’s slogan of wanting a “proud, independent, sovereign, democratic United Kingdom”, he warned against hypocrisy, adding: “You can't stand for a democratic entity that is the United Kingdom, celebrate and champion that democracy, if the party through which you wish to do it, isn't itself democratic.”
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Mr Habib was dismissed as deputy leader of Reform UK after the election (Image: Getty)
He credited Mr Farage for “professionalising the party”, but pointed out that democratising it is a different thing altogether.
Mr Habib claimed: “if that constitution and if these branch structures doesn't remove the control that Nigel has on the party through the limited company structure, where he owns the majority of the shares, and in a private limited company, he who owns the majority has absolute control, if that structure isn't changed, then it won't be truly democratised.”
“I fear for the future of Reform UK, if it isn't properly democratised.”
Earlier this week, Reform UK’s long-term Chief Executive Paul Oakden was ousted this week, giving Nigel Farage even more control over the party.
Unlike most other parties, Reform UK is a private company. The departure of Mr Oakden who had been CEO since the party’s creation in 2019 increases Mr Farage's shareholding from 53% to 60%.
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Mr Farage has promised to professionalise the party (Image: Getty)
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The Mirror reported that Mr Oakden was “effectively made redundant” after the party “made the decision to sunset the CEO position”.
Richard Tice owns 33% of the firm, while party treasurer Mehrtash Azami holds the final share.
Reacting to this weeks news about Mr Oakden, Ben Habib described the job of CEO as “very big” but “thankless”.
“They're behind the scenes, they're remembered for the mistakes they made, not the successes they have. It's a bit like being a goalkeeper on a football pitch. You're remembered for the goals you let in, not all the many saves you made.
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“Paul is a very experienced political campaigner, organiser, manager of election campaigns.
“And whilst there would have been complaints, no doubt, from lots of us, because he didn't do this and he didn't help us there during the election and I wanted this done and it wasn't done on time, all that kind of thing.
"Actually, he's got massive experience having fought dozens of by-elections as well as a number of general elections."