For a long time, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has been attempting to turn the two-party system into a triangular contest.Andy Burnham took over as the new UK Prime Minister this month, after his predecessor Keir Starmer stepped down, making him the seventh PM in a decade.The revolving door of leaders in British politics points to a clear motif — the decline of the two national parties. A decade of political erosion flowing from Brexit, the Conservatives’ loss in 2024 and the recent fall of the Keir Starmer-led Labour government has left a vacuum. The Greens and Reform UK have moved to occupy space on the political left and right, respectively.For a long time, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has been attempting to turn the two-party system into a triangular contest, if not replace the Conservatives. Dr Amir Ali, author of the book Brexit and Liberal Democracy: Populism, Sovereignty and the Nation-State (2021), told The Indian Express that Nigel is “seriously positioned” as a challenger for the top post in the future.Farage has recently come under fire over allegations of misappropriation of funds and not declaring certain payments. He announced his resignation this month and plans to contest the same seat again for the by-poll in the next few days to galvanise public support.Rise of FarageFarage founded Reform UK in 2018, built on Euroscepticism and anti-immigration — major pillars of his own political identity. Cut to the 2024 election, where the young party surpassed expectations to secure 4 million votes and 5 parliamentary seats. Around 24% of voters said in a January 2025 survey that they would consider voting for Reform UK in a future election.Dr Ali said that Farage becoming a mainstream leader is a function of British politics’ broader rightward shift over a decade. “The supposedly left-wing Labour Party since the days of Tony Blair has been sucked to the centre as it increasingly accepted the logic of the neo-liberal market. The Conservatives have kept trying to outflank Farage by moving in his extreme right direction on immigration and Brexit,” he said.In Explained | ‘King of the North’ to the UK’s new PM: The rise of Andy BurnhamHe added that his ascendancy may continue, “Unless Andy Burnham can move the centre of gravity of British politics back to the left with some kind of complementarity being worked out with the resurgent Greens, who stand further to the left of Labour.”Fringe to mainstreamStory continues below this adFarage began his political career with a brief association with the Conservatives as a teenager. He then joined the UK Independence Party in the 1990s and spent the next two decades campaigning for the UK to leave the European Union. Scepticism of the bloc did not prevent Farage from serving as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 1999.He was one of the first proponents of Brexit and even founded the Brexit Party in 2019, three years after the vote. In 2021, he dissolved the party to launch Reform.When it comes to his politics, Farage frames immigration as the root cause of the collective grievances of British society. “Nigel Farage is an obsessively single-issue politician with little else of intelligence and substance to say on anything else,” Dr Ali argued. Over the years, media focus has also “disproportionately” focused on such issues, while cost of living issues, austerity and the structural infirmities of the economy have been left out of the discussion, he said.As for Farage’s own public image, Dr Ali said cultivating an approachable persona of an “ordinary bloke” has helped his popularity, even though his background includes work as a commodities trader in London.Story continues below this adA major electionEarlier in July, Farage resigned from the seat of Clacton in Southeast England after allegations swirled around the sources of his financial support. His party’s finances came under scrutiny, including a £5 million personal gift from Thailand-based crypto millionaire Christopher Harborne, but he denied allegations of misbehaviour.Farage is contesting the by-election, scheduled for August 13, but major parties have refused to field candidates in a boycott, calling it a “circus”, “a fake by-election” and “Farage’s vanity project”. One challenger among 34 contestants is “Count Binface”, a garbage-can-wearing comedian who is part of a long list of joke candidates who have stood to challenge prominent politicians in British elections.With bigger parties out of the contest, the election would appear to be an easy win for Farage. But a recent Ipsos poll showed 1 in 3 British adults would prefer Count Binface to win, while 21% prefer Farage and 32% choose neither. At a time of churn in national politics, the election could determine the fate of Farage, and the long-term future of his party when several contenders are aiming to assume centre stage.Majid Alam is a Senior Copy Editor at Indianexpress.com. With over seven years of experience in journalism, he has worked across leading newsrooms, managing online news desk operations, heading shifts, and handling breaking news in fast-paced environments. While his primary experience has been on the news desk, his interests extend to field reporting and in-depth storytelling. He has reported stories on government policy, health, climate, and migration. He has previously worked with Hindustan Times, ABP LIVE, and News18. Majid holds a Master's degree in Convergent Journalism from the AJK Mass Communication Research Centre at Jamia Millia Islamia. He was also selected for an international mobility programme to study International Affairs at Sciences Po, Paris. He is part of the OCEANS Network, the alumni network of Erasmus+ exchange scholars, where he serves as the National Representative for India. ... Read More