There's no business day like Reform's sh*tshow business day

Ahead of last weekend’s Reform party conference – a conference largely overshadowed by a Channel 4 News undercover investigation which appeared to show senior political figures prepared to funnel foreign donations into the party – much of the coverage was of how big business was flocking to attend.

Vodafone, EE and Heathrow Airport were among attendees the party was boasting of being in attendance in a show of how big business increasingly viewed Nigel Farage’s mob as a credible party of government.

For the first time, it said, the party was staging a dedicated business day, which it said would place “the business community at the heart of the programme”, offering attendees access to Reform’s leadership. So how did it go?

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Meanwhile the business dinner on Thursday evening, which awkwardly began an hour after Channel 4 News aired footage of two senior party figures appearing to agree to take cash funneled from a foreign donor, was described as a “disaster”. Having been promised that two Reform representatives would be sat at each table to hear business concerns, many found there were none at all.

Not that they would have been heard if there were – the same report also said that the band which played throughout were so loud that it was difficult to hear conversation at the table – and to top it all off, the water served was described as tasting “like chlorine”.

One business source told the website: “If that’s how they run a conference day for business, I don’t know how they’re going to run an entire country.” Another triumph for Reform!