Nigel Farage said Reform UK is laying plans to govern from “day one,” announcing a new internal unit and naming Conservative defector Danny Kruger to lead it as he warned a general election could arrive sooner than expected.
In an opinion piece published in the Daily Mail on Sept. 16, 2025, Farage urged supporters not to take Reform’s more than four million votes from last year’s general election for granted and said the party must be ready to assume power if the governing Labour Party collapses. He said the unit will be headed by Kruger, whom he described as the first sitting Conservative MP to join Reform in this parliament.
Farage wrote that Reform has created a “Preparing for Government Unit” to develop concrete plans for implementing the party’s agenda, and that Kruger would work closely with head of policy Zia Yusuf and other staff. He said the goal is to turn campaign ideas on law and order, immigration and free speech into actionable government policy.
The op-ed framed the move as a response to what Farage called a Labour Government “in meltdown,” saying the Conservatives are no longer a credible alternative and that Reform could become the main opposition. Farage asserted the party has topped more than 100 national opinion polls in a row and cited successes in recent English local elections and anticipated gains in next year’s devolved contests in Wales and Scotland.
Farage acknowledged the party’s relative lack of governing experience and warned of potential resistance from parts of the civil service, the House of Lords, the media and academia. He set two “firm bars” for any other politicians considering joining Reform: they must share the party’s political principles and add demonstrable value to Reform’s movement rather than joining solely to preserve their political careers.
Danny Kruger, a Conservative MP until his defection to Reform, was described by Farage as a committed Brexiteer and a critic of both Labour and Conservative approaches to immigration, family and community issues. Farage said Kruger’s defection was the first of its kind in this parliamentary term and expressed confidence others might follow if they shared Reform’s vision.
The announcement comes as Reform seeks to formalize policy plans and broaden its ranks. Farage said the party will invite input from people working within institutions such as the civil service, the military and the courts, seeking advice on how to “fix the system to make it serve the public.”
The op-ed offered a timeline of urgency, with Farage telling readers a general election could occur “certainly before 2029.” He urged supporters to help build the party’s capabilities to govern and to prepare for the administrative and political challenges of implementing its platform.
The piece is the latest in a series of communications from Reform UK that aim to present the party as a ready alternative to the two main British parties. Coverage of the announcement has been carried across British media outlets; the op-ed appeared in the Daily Mail and was published at 01:14 BST on Sept. 16, 2025.
U.S. political observers who monitor international populist and conservative movements have in the past followed Farage’s initiatives closely because of his prominence in European politics. The development will be of interest to analysts tracking shifts among right‑of‑center parties and the prospects for anti‑establishment formations in Western democracies, though Farage’s statements in the op-ed reflect the party’s own assessments and ambitions rather than independent verification of electoral outcomes or the timing of future elections.