In a week of high drama, in which Reform lost its chairman and then saw him return 48 hours later, the party could have hoped for a quiet news day. Slim chance of that.
After Zia Yusuf returned as party chairman, Reform held a press conference to announce that Yusuf would head the party’s DOGE unit to uncover waste at councils – and would be replaced as chairman by Dr David Bull.
A former Conservative, Bull is better known than his predecessor was when taking the role, having formerly presented Newsround and Most Haunted, becoming an MEP for the Brexit party in 2019 and the co-host of the TalkTV weekend breakfast show in 2022. As James Heale notes, he is also popular with members, being both ‘a gregarious character and a longtime Farage loyalist.’ A key part of Bull’s role will be in handling the media; but his first steps in the new role, it appears he has already stumbled, stating that ‘immigration is the lifeblood of this country, it always has been’.
🚨NEW REFORM CHAIRMAN DAVID BULL SAYS:
— Basil the Great (@Basil_TGMD) June 10, 2025
"Immigration is the lifeblood of this country, it always has been"
Could Reform not find someone who doesn't peddle the same lies Labour do? pic.twitter.com/uhdTaF5BSn
For Reform, a populist party on the right, this is a statement that is almost incomprehensible, which seems to contradict their entire raison d’être. Their rise is almost entirely downstream of failures by established political parties to control migration, and so far the only remotely comprehensible and concrete policy the party offers is to reduce migration.
Although the practicalities of how and the detail of by how much are still, by and large, undefined, Bull is now the chairman of a party promising below net zero immigration. That position is almost universally popular, and is the only concrete positive policy proposal people are voting for Reform to deliver. Yet they seem unable to stay on message; Richard Tice made a similar misstep when, in the wake of Labour’s ban on overseas recruitment for the care sector in order to end the disastrous care sector visa, he suggested that Labour had gone ‘too far’ rather than urging them further.
This pattern of inconsistency on their one popular policy raises an important question; what, exactly, is Reform? Is it a disciplined vehicle for delivering a hard reset on mass migration, a personality-led protest movement prone to contradiction, or a vehicle for political c-listers to ride a wave of public anger on immigration into the spotlight?
Bull’s comments may seem innocuous, but it is a line long used by pro-migration activists. Not only is it a line that is measurably untrue (Britain, in fact, has a long history of emigration) but those who repeat and believe it are the figures that Reform cast themselves in direct opposition to. Phrases like ‘immigration is the lifeblood of this country’ are not neutral; they are loaded with the assumptions of the pro-migration consensus that Reform claims to challenge.
The confusion over messaging on Reform’s single, sole policy plank risks alienating Reform’s base – many of whom have turned to the party precisely because of its clarity and conviction on immigration. But it also raises wider questions about the party’s internal coherence and discipline; it suggests they cannot hold a consistent line on their central policy, and it seriously undermines their efforts to present themselves as a serious alternative to the political establishment they seek to replace. They, rightly, accuse the Tories of talking right and governing left; but ill discipline like this offers the simple rebuttal that Reform can’t even talk right.
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