Cat Neelan

March 2021.

A year into the Covid pandemic and Nigel Farage makes a big decision.

The man who spent nearly 30 years campaigning for and helping to achieve Brexit has decided that he has had enough.

Nigel Farage hands over the reins of his political party to Richard Tice, an ally and fellow Brexiteer.

Richard Theiss is going to inject new energy and lead the newly named Reform Party, while Farage rides off into the sunset.

This isn't the first time Farage has stepped away from frontline politics, but he'll be back, perhaps sooner than anyone anticipates.

Because just as Richard Theiss steps forward as the new leader of reform, the Conservative establishment begins to crumble.

As the Conservatives disintegrate in a series of unforced errors, Reform becomes a magnet for figures across the right.

The party starts to attract not just Conservative MPs, but former donors too.

And then, on 22 May 2024... Now is the moment for Britain to choose its future.

Standing behind a lectern in Downing Street, a rain-soaked Rishi Sunak announces a snap general election.

The combination of an unpopular Conservative Party and a disaffected British public presents Nigel Farage with an opportunity too good to miss.

And a 30-year dream finally comes true for the man who said he was done with standing in elections.

Reform wins five seats.

Labour wins a big majority.

And the Conservatives suffer their worst electoral defeat in parliamentary history.

But those five seats are just the start.

Over the course of the next year, there's a steady stream of Conservative defections.

And as the shine wears off the Labour government, reform inches ahead in the polls.

For the first time in his career, people are starting to talk about Nigel Farage