Farage had «secret deal» to return as Reform leader months before election, reports say

Labour has said Reform UK is operating under a «stench of sleaze» after reports that Nigel Farage struck a secret deal to return as party leader months before the 2024 general election. The reports, published in the Sunday Times, say Farage was planning a political comeback even as he later maintained he had no intention of standing again.

According to the Sunday Times, Farage was in discussions about a return to the political frontline from as early as March 2024. He later claimed that he had no intention of returning to politics until June 2024, when he resumed the leadership of Reform and rejoined the election campaign.

The Labour chair accused Reform of making «grubby pacts» as contradictory reports emerged over the sequence of events. The accusation was aimed at the party's leadership and at the manner in which Farage's comeback was organised. Labour said the reports indicated that an agreement had been reached in secret long before the election.

The row centres on whether Farage's return was a genuine late decision or the result of planning that had been under way for months. The distinction matters because it affects the credibility of what Farage and Reform said during the election campaign. Labour has seized on that distinction to argue that the party was not straightforward with voters.

According to the Sunday Times, the discussions in early 2024 already pointed towards Farage taking back the leadership. The report challenges the version of events offered during the election campaign, when Farage suggested he had made his decision late and had not planned a comeback. If the report is accurate, the return was not the late decision it was presented as at the time.

The row has brought fresh attention to Reform's internal arrangements and to the way the party presented Farage's return to voters. Labour's use of the phrase «stench of sleaze» was intended to link the reports to broader concerns about transparency and backroom dealing in politics.

Contradictory reports have made it difficult to establish the exact timeline. Labour's chair argued that the confusion itself was significant, saying voters were owed a clear explanation of when and how Farage's return was agreed. The party said the reports raised questions that Reform had yet to answer, including why discussions in early 2024 were not disclosed at the time.

The dispute leaves unresolved the question of when the deal was originally struck. With Labour pressing the issue and the reports still contested, the controversy is likely to remain at the centre of political debate.