Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party doesn’t usually hide its candle under a bushel, but the organisers of this week’s Lawyers for Reform launch at Chancery Lane showed a bashful side. As Obiter lined up to register at an unmarked table outside the Law Society Reading Room, we noticed that the usual signboards directing to events had been turned to face the wall. We were also a little surprised to be given a security frisk and asked to show ID before being admitted.
Inside, it was more relaxed. Some 50 people – by no means all Reform supporters – heard a call by group chairman Martin Howe KC (pictured) for help to ensure a future Reform administration’s reversals of three decades of Blairite legislation are legally watertight. Stating that he did not want to preach only to the converted, Howe said that all the group’s meetings will be ‘open to all those who want to find out more about us’.
One of the first items on the agenda (once the May elections are out of the way) will be freedom of speech, he said.
We shall watch with interest.
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