At 11:00am this morning Nigel Farage MP announced who would take up the first four positions within the ‘Shadow Cabinet’ for Reform UK. These individuals, constituting a mix of elected and unelected people, will now become the official Reform UK spokespeople for their specific briefs.
Farage stated that the announcement of these spokespeople is an effort to expand Reform UK beyond a ‘one-man band’.[1]
Reform UK Positions
- Richard Tice MP as Deputy Party Leader and the ‘Shadow’ Business, Trade and Energy Secretary. His portfolio will also include housing.
- Robert Jenrick MP as ‘Shadow’ Chancellor of the Exchequer
- Zia Yusuf as ‘Shadow’ Home Secretary
- Suella Braverman MP as ‘Shadow’ Education and Skills Secretary. Braverman will also have responsibility for ‘equalities’. The ‘equalities’ brief will be about removing ‘prejudice against white people’ and include ‘removing the equalities department’.[2]
Reform UK Spokespeople
Notably, Jenrick was the Shadow Justice Secretary until his sacking and later defection from the Conservatives in January. Braverman was twice Home Secretary, under Prime Minister Truss and then Prime Minister Sunak. This makes half of Farage’s new top team recent high-profile defections from the Conservative Party.
In a short speech post the main announcement today, Jenrick talked about Reform being on the side of ‘alarm clock Britain’,[3] a phrase which was notably used by Nick Clegg when the Liberal Democrats were on their way to form one half of the 2010 coalition government.
Following his appointment, Tice outlined Reform’s plans to create a ‘super-department’ combining business, energy, trade and housing, focused on delivering economic growth and prosperity. Tice emphasised the need for cheap energy to reindustrialise and rebuild Britain and stated that Reform would establish a dedicated British sovereign wealth fund to support long-term infrastructure development and strengthen the country’s economic foundations. This announcement came just hours after Tice confirmed Reform UK would look at cutting the minimum wage if they got into government.[4] Tice will deliver a speech next week in the Midlands.
Yusuf is not currently an MP and has so far served as Chair of the Reform Party, Head of DOGE, and Director of Policy. Yusuf met Farage at a cocktail party. He then went on to join Reform UK, leaving the Conservatives, and became the largest donor to Reform UK in the run-up to the 2024 General Election.[5] Yusuf briefly resigned from his role as Chair in 2025, stating working for Reform UK was ‘no longer […] a good use of my time’.[6]
What happens next?
Mr Farage MP has indicated that Reform UK will announce further spokespeople in the future. The individuals announced today will begin hosting press conferences to outline their plans for if Reform UK were to form a future Government.
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[1] The Guardian, Nigel Farage unveils Reform UK frontbench team and warns over dissent, 17 February 2026, link
[2] Personnel Today, Reform UK would ‘repeal Equality Act’, 17 February 2026, link
[3] Nottinghamshire Live, Robert Jenrick takes up key Reform UK role and will have less time to ‘do all his videos’, 17 February 2026, link
[4] The National, Reform UK would consider cutting minimum wage, says Richard Tice, 17 February 2026, link
[5] BBC, Muslim millionaire gives major donation to Reform UK, 19 June 2024, link
[6] BBC, Zia Yusuf resigns as Reform UK chairman, 5 June 2025, link
