Nigel Farage’s Reform UK is Now Britain’s Biggest Far-Right Threat, Finds Report

Nigel Farage‘s Reform Party is the biggest far-right political threat to Britain, according to a report by Britain’s leading anti-fascist group.

HOPE not hate’s State of Hate 2025 report , billed as the “most comprehensive and analytical guide to the far-right in Britain today”, comes in the wake of last summer’s riots and waves of extremist sentiment being stirred up by media personalities and billionaires, like Elon Musk.

The report, Reform Rising and Racist Riots, highlights a stark change in the far-right landscape from 2024, which focused on an increasingly radicalised Conservative Party. With the Conservatives sidelined, and right wing politicians having lost their seats or defected to Reform, the focus has shifted onto more pressing threats, split into three prominent areas.

First, the rise of Reform as a political force, from securing five parliamentary seats at the last General Election, which would have been inconceivable just a few weeks earlier, before Farage decided to take the helm. Then, there’s the support it is likely to receive from malign actors with undue influence, like Musk.

After securing 4.1 million votes, 14% of the total, Reform’s results represent the biggest win for a far-right party ever at the ballot box. The Party also came in second in 98 constituencies (89 of which were secured by Labour) and secured over 20% of the vote in 148, all despite lacking any real political infrastructure or informed data-led insights. 

Since the election, the party has been establishing hundreds of local branches, and increasing its activists on-the-ground. It now claims to have over 219,000 members and is recruiting more seasoned campaigners to fight the upcoming local and mayoral elections. The Party is also regularly topping opinion polls, and according to HOPE not hate polling, could secure 169 seats if a General Election was held today.

Going forward, the party is likely, the report explains, to also receive the backing of Musk, either directly through donations or via his manipulation of the algorithm on X to favour the party, part of a trend of his weaponising influence to promote far-right parties across Europe. 

It remains to be seen, however, how this will affect Reform, as the majority of the country dislikes Musk and disapproves of him meddling in our politics.

The report also highlights the return of currently incarcerated far-right agitator Stephen Lennon (AKA Tommy Robinson), who Musk has also been championing. In July 2024, Lennon held the largest far-right demonstration seen in the UK for decades in central London, attended by as many as 30,000 people and watched by 500,000 over livestream. During the event, he thanked Musk for restoring his X account, where his extremist content reaches millions. 

In January, it was reported that Musk was to start funding Lennon, as he called for his release from prison, triggering a backlash from parliamentarians. The move caused a rift between Musk and Farage, who was forced to distance himself from the comments, causing the billionaire to, for a time, call for Farage’s replacement as Reform leader.

Lennon, who is currently serving time for contempt of court, is due to be released as soon as this summer.

HOPE not hate’s report also reflects on how the riots — which erupted across 18 towns and cities across England in July and August 2024, resulting in hundreds of arrests — were fuelled by disinformation from prominent political and media figures, as well as through the involvement of known far-right activists and smaller, localised networks. 

While activists from Patriotic Alternative, North East Infidels, Britain First, Blood & Honour, National Rebirth Party, the British Democrats, and the now-defunct English Defence League were among the rioters, the report highlights how many of the events were planned organically, a product of the “post-organisational” far-right.

These included people who were absorbing material from decentralised far-right online networks. At least 1,600 people have now been arrested over the riots, with over 800 charged. Hundreds are now serving sentences for crimes such as vandalising homes and shops, setting cars on fire, attacking mosques, and targeting asylum accommodation centres in Tamworth and Rotherham with arson attacks while residents were trapped inside. 

The report also highlights pessimism among the public over the state of UK democracy and politics, with a poll of 23,000 Britons finding that 68% don’t believe politicians listen to people like them, with just 9% believing they do. As many as 40% support a “strong and decisive leader who has the authority to override or ignore parliament”.  

The polling found a correlation between those with a pessimist outlook on politics and support for Reform UK. 

Alongside the political turmoil highlighted by HOPE not hate, the charity has also spent time tracking the broader far-right ecosystem, including the 22 far-right sympathisers who were convicted under terrorist legislation in 2024, a growing number of “violent young men… drawing inspiration from a diverse array of extremes in order to justify their thoughts and acts of violence”, and the phenomenon of a growing number of radical-right activists establishing media outlets to secure donations and subs from supporting fans. 

Far-right commentator Matt Goodwin features prominently, as does the fact that GB News, which is backed by Legatum and billionaire hedge funder Paul Marshall, is increasingly becoming “the mouthpiece for Reform UK”. 

Nick Lowles, CEO at HOPE not hate, said of the report’s findings: “The far right is increasingly claiming space in our society. On the streets and online, the far right — in all its guises — is increasingly confident, assertive, and growing.

“With Donald Trump having returned to the White House and Elon Musk — the world’s richest man —  financially and ideologically supporting the far-right in Britain and elsewhere in Europe, we can only assume that the threat will grow in 2025.”

It’s now more important than ever to fight against the rise of authoritarianism and fascism. The international rules-based order is under threat like never before, with a small group of strongman leaders battling it out for power, influence and (personal) wealth. We can’t let them win

Nick Lowles, CEO at HOPE not hate

Despite concerns over the surge of the far-right, 60% of voters polled by HOPE not hate support a liberal democracy. 

The report notes that the disillusionment resulting in extremist sentiment does not happen in a vacuum, with people struggling with the cost of living and economic hardship while lacking trust in political parties to solve their hardships. 

The findings indicate that “the more pessimistic people are about their own lives, the more likely they are to support Reform UK, to believe multiculturalism is failing, and to oppose immigration”.