A protester is ejected from the hall

OVER there, Richard the Lionheart. Over here, a group of people gazing at a JCB tractor.

And then, in the middle of it all, the sound of Jeremy Kyle, once the presenter of a daily morning chat show described as “human bear-baiting”, interviewing various figures about combating woke liberalism.

This was the Reform Party conference in Birmingham, which will perhaps be best remembered for the party’s difficulty in answering questions about alleged dodgy donations and the force with which protesters were ejected once leader Nigel Farage reached the stage.

From where many Reform conference goers were standing, the Channel 4 and Verbatim sting, which appeared to show senior aides taking donations through a back door, was just evidence that the establishment is getting nervous and was making last-ditch attempts to stop Reform’s charge to No.10.

Sir Keir Starmer’s resignation as PM and then MP was hailed as a set of Reform-induced victories, there was not much mind paid to the race for his old seat.

Top Reform figure Gawain Towler told the Tribune that the party knew the battle for Holborn and St Pancras next month was “not our fight” and that they were nowhere near selecting a candidate.

Suella Braverman at the conference

Much of the rest of the day’s discussions are also unlikely to surprise readers. On the main stage, keynote speech after keynote detailed Reform UK’s plan for its first 100 days in government, with the who’s who of Reform rolling on stage after a hype video of their greatest political moments warmed up the crowd.

Zia Yusuf focused on his plan to tackle the migrant “invasion”, armed with the one line he has been trotting out for months now since his first ever speech as home affairs spokesperson, that over the last eight years, more people have arrived by small boat to the UK (around 200,000) than stormed the beaches of Normandy on D-Day (roughly 150,000).

How exactly this comparison is a useful way to put the number of arrivals into perspective remains unclear, and it does raise the question of if the ex-businessman has seemingly been unable to pay a speechwriter or statistician since February.

Mr Yusuf, whose own parents migrated to the UK from Sri Lanka, made headlines last week for a social media post about Camden Council leader Sagal Abdi-Wali, who came to the UK from Somalia as a child refugee. It has been treated as “straight­forward racism” by Labour opponents.

Two Farage fans

The dial was down on charisma and up on fearmongering during his keynote speech, in which he also promised that Reform is not here to “do a deal with con-artist Kemi” but instead to “put the Tories out of business”.

Lee Anderson tried his usual gag-laden address bashing both the Tories and Labour, seemingly most offended by London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan. He referred to “the people’s army” coming our way, repeatedly.

Elsewhere, GB News’ Nana Akua led a panel calling for the UK’s exit from the World Health Organisation and asked whether we should be seeking reparations from China for the pandemic as campaigners do for slavery. The TaxPayers’ Alliance criticised the size of Britain’s benefits budget, and Suella Braverman lamented pervasive prejudice in education and employ­ment. All familiar lines.

At an otherwise nuanced fringe event focused on low educational attainment among white, working-class boys and the people the service economy has left behind, Ms Braverman asserted that the Equality Act, while engineered with noble intentions, institutional­ised anti-white racism and anti-male sexism in practice. “Mansplaining,” she added, is also an “offensive term” women use to silence men.

A tractor is the source of excitement

Ms Braverman, alongside Manchester Met’s Vice Chancellor Malcolm Press and moderator Andrew Calthorpe, wanted empathy, not blame, that must be extended towards deprived young white men who end up inspired by the Tate brothers or embroiled in gang crime. While Mr Kyle and the Reform bigwigs talked about immigration, masculinity and the left-wing establishment, the issue of class underpinned the words of lower-level elected representatives and supporters.

But the day took a turn in the run-up to Mr Farage’s own keynote speech on Friday. At around a quarter to five, the afternoon’s agenda was paused for a “security alert”.

The crowd enjoyed a mix of karaoke classics, kicking off with Mr Blue Sky and Sweet Caroline, which brought on a flurry of placard-waving and singing. Eventually Mr Farage and an entourage shuffled up to the stage as Come on Eileen, much, it turned out, to Dexys Midnight Runners’ annoyance. A flurry of protesters from activist group Climate Resistance were hauled out by security every few minutes. Jeers from audience members included “shut up you scum”, “get them out”, “beat them up”, “shame on you”, and Mr Farage’s favourite rebuttal.

Young men and women were lifted out by the arms and legs, with one protester pulled by the hair and hit with a crutch by a nearby supporter.

It’s understandable that disruptors were ejected, but it was strange that the force with which they were removed seemed to shock everybody watching online but few in the hall.

“These are the benefits of university education, folks,” Mr Farage quipped as a protester was lifted away. “I think maybe next year we’ll put the price of the tickets up.”