Farage's next step? Wooing defeated Tories and reforming the voting system

When Nigel Farage entered this election he said it was the start of a five-year mission to reshape the right of British politics - either by destroying or merging with the Conservative party.

In getting four Reform UK MPs elected overnight, that mission is on track.

His parliamentary party may be small, but the four Reform men in the House of Commons will be noisy and disruptive.

At the eighth attempt, Farage is an MP. He is out of retirement and his long political career enters a new chapter.

And - he is arguably the most influential person on the right of British politics today.

Reform managed to get more than four million votes in total with a national vote share of just over 14%.

In the closing days of the campaign, Farage was talking up the prospect of getting five or six million votes - perhaps even eclipsing the Conservative Party’s total.

In terms of votes and vote share - his party hasn’t quite hit the heights Farage had dreamt of.

But that won’t trouble him much. Reform finished in second place in dozens and dozens of seats. In the north of England and Wales, the party is clipping at the heels of Labour.

The Conservative Party’s problem at this election will fast become Labour’s problem at the next. Farage will try and create political waves on two fronts next week.

As the Conservative's argues over what went wrong at this election, Farage will add his own analysis with glee.

He will gladly woo disaffected Tory voters and defeated candidates. He will take great delight in watching some leadership candidates talk up his political success.

The second move he will make will be on reforming the voting system. Reform UK got more votes and a bigger vote share than the Liberal Democrats, but only a tiny fraction of the MPs.

Farage will seek an alliance with the Green Party, the Liberal Democrats, and others to push the case to replace first-past-the-post system with something he would see as more democratic.

In an election where smaller parties and independent candidates did extremely well, he has a strong argument.

But convincing Labour and the Conservatives will be close to impossible.

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