The Grenfell sacking that's opened up a rift between Farage and Tice

The dismissal of Reform’s housing spokesman Simon Dudley for heartless comments about the Grenfell Tower tragedy have dented the far right party’s local election campaign – but more than that, they have opened up a rift between leader Nigel Farage and his deputy, Richard Tice.

Farage wasted no time in throwing ‘Dubai Dicky’ in under the bus after Dudley was sacked for telling Inside Housing magazine that new building regulations, put in place after a fire that killed 72 people, had gone too far for poor developers. Dudley said the pendulum had “swung too far the wrong way”, adding “Sadly, you know, everyone dies in the end. It’s just how you go, right?”

In a Sky News interview, Farage heaped the blame for the appointment – which he falsely claimed had happened only two weeks earlier – on Tice. He said: “I met (Dudley) once for two minutes, I don’t know the guy. Richard’s in charge of development, housing, economics. He thought he was the right person to put in place because of his considerable expertise in the area. That’s undoubted.’

Farage added: “He was appointed two weeks ago, he’s made these comments, he’s no longer there.” Yet Tice actually announced Dudley had been given the job on March 10, saying in a press release: “He understands planning, finance and regeneration. He knows how to get projects moving. That is exactly what we need. ”

The row will have deepened suspicions about Tice within Reform. The Boston & Skegness MP was the party’s first leader – standing aside for Farage before the last general election – and his fortune propped Reform up in its early days. He has handed it nearly £2.5 million in donations and loans so far.

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Rats in a Sack

Yet Tice is seen internally as a poor media performer and gaffe-prone. Labour and the Conservatives both regard him as easy to attack after the Sunday Times reported Tice had “avoided nearly £600,000 in corporation tax” through his property company – a story that Tice then made worse by saying that Britons should strive to pay the minimum tax possible.

In February, Tice was passed over for the role of Reform’s so-called shadow chancellor – it went to Robert Jenrick instead – despite wanting the job. Insiders think he would have lost out to Zia Yusuf in any case, had Jenrick not made the brief part of his demands when defecting.

Tice and his partner, journalist Isabel Oakeshott, are also wary of his waning influence with Farage, who has pushed forward Yusuf – given the key home affairs brief and new policy head James Orr instead.

Now Tice has botched his first big appointment in his new role. There has been disbelief in Reform circles that Dudley was so naive – or arrogant – that he twice retweeted the press interview that led to his downfall.

Tice initially wanted Dudley to remain in place, and retweeted his pitiful apology – “I am sorry if it was not sufficiently clear”, followed by two paragraphs of self-justification – before finally conceding that he had to go. He has yet to comment publicly on the dismissal, despite Farage making him pull the trigger.

Reform’s national poll ratings continue to slide, yet they have still led every opinion poll for almost a year, and expect to gain 2,000-plus seats in the May 7 local elections. But any underperformance can now be blamed on Dudley and Tice, and an enraged Farage seems unlikely to hesitate to do so.