Chapter 1: What happens during the calm morning press conference?
Nigel, you're a bit of a military history buff.
Do you know what sort of tank this is? It's an armoured personnel carrier. They were used in Kosovo. There's one or two still in service around the world. It's capable of carrying 10, maybe 12, but 10 probably fully armed troops straight up towards combat zones.
One Nigel Farage and a Derek Chisora. Well, there you are.
I probably need more protection than him.
Welcome to the Reform UK podcast. I'm Ray Addison and this week's episode is about one single day, Thursday the 2nd of April 2026. A day that started with tea and scones in a quiet London garden and ended with an incredible traffic stopping stunt on Tower Bridge.
I was there that day recording behind the scenes and what struck me most was how fast the tone could change from calm to chaos in just a few hours. It began at the Wellington Hotel in central London.
So we are preparing a lovely afternoon tea garden party for all of our guests at today's press conference.
Outside in the garden, Reform UK councillor Jamie McIver was busy with the team, arranging flowers, hanging Union Jack bunting and scattering miniature Easter eggs across crisp white tablecloths.
I mean, what we're very good at is, you know, everybody just copies us because we have the ideas and the innovation, don't we? So people aren't used to seeing politics be delivered in such a fun way and also a very effective way. And you know what? It's actually testament to the team and their creativity.
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Chapter 2: How does Reform UK plan to protect the Triple Lock on pensions?
Can you just read out the speech? We know how hard things are right now. Wages are flat, but taxes and bills keep going up. The latest data came out on Tuesday. The economy shrank per person in the last quarter of last year, and the rise in oil and gas prices is only going to make things harder.
Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves rightly talk as if we're in a crisis, but they're doing nothing, just convening pointless meetings.
I grabbed a quick word with Rob. How do you feel when you're about to do an announcement like this? It's something that's been worked on for a very long time.
Well, I've done quite a lot of these actually now. In fact, we're doing them every week. So at Reform, you're getting quite a lot of practice at it. But this is an important one today. We've given this a lot of thought. Nigel, myself, Richard, Zia, the whole team have thought about it because it's a very big commitment actually. It's a lot of money.
And if you make a promise to people, particularly older people, You've got to be certain that you can keep it. And you see what's happened in the past. I mean, look at Rachel Reeves. She made all these promises in opposition, and one after the other, she's ended up reneging on them. And that totally destroyed her reputation to the point where now no one believes a word she says.
But it was also very damaging to trust in politics and in our country, in the economy.
Do you feel like there's been a noticeable change of pace in your life since you moved to reform?
I'm drinking more, getting less sleep. But we've always been busy. It's been a lot of fun so far.
Nigel arrived with his team. You got other ideas, James?
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Chapter 3: What unique event occurs after the press conference?
And then we've got the boxing one coming this afternoon. as I understand it, I'm going to be in a tank with Derek Chisora over Tower Bridge, actually.
Two questions. What are you going to say when they say this is an election giveaway, how can you afford it?
I'm going to say I was incredibly thoughtful about it, but I do have huge sympathy for, especially for pre-2016 pensioners who are massively disadvantaged by the pensions cliff, but I'm also quite concerned about post-2016 pensioners, many of whom now have been dragged into taxation by the freezing of tax limits. And as a party, we very much picked a side, which is working people.
And these are retired people who've worked and paid in all their lives.
But there was another distraction that morning. Reform's housing spokesman, Simon Dudley, had caused controversy due to comments he'd made about the Grenfell disaster to Inside Housing magazine. Dudley had said post-Grenfell safety rules went too far, that everyone dies in the end, and that safety regulations were choking house building.
A group representing the bereaved of Grenfell described the comments as ignorant and callous, and Reform quickly took action.
Richard said he's not spoken to anyone.
Is that what he said officially?
He's told them now. He said he can be at my advice if he's not spoken to anyone.
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Chapter 4: What challenges arise during the press conference preparations?
Whichever of those three figures is the highest.
After the speeches, it was time for questions from the press. First, from GB News' political editor, Christopher Hope.
Robert Jenrick, how much will your pledge today cost if you win the next election per year? How much extra money are you pledging today? Nigel Farrar, the remarks from your housing spokesman have shocked many today about the issue of the Grenfell fire. Simon Dudley says that the blaze was a tragedy but everyone dies in the end. The PM says you should sack him, will you?
That's already happened. Forgive me, what's happened? He's no longer a spokesman for the party. And will he stand for what he's gotten then? He's left the party or no one will? No, no, he's not a spokesman for the party. That has been dealt with.
Thank you. Very good. And Chris, on your point about the cost of this, it is a very substantial sum of money, and that's why we've given this very careful consideration. We've run a series of forecasts, including worst-case scenarios. It's obviously highly volatile. It depends on the path of earnings and inflation in the years ahead.
But we're confident that the savings that we have already identified, frankly, Ā£40 billion, Ā£160 billion over the course of a Parliament, are more than sufficient to cover the increase that there will be in public spending in the next Parliament. And the savings that we're going to be setting out in the weeks ahead
which Nigel has alluded to, in particular around savings to the welfare budget for those people who entered the country in recent years, will again be very substantial.
As the journalists began to file their copy, guests were invited into the garden for tea. Under gazebos were tables laid with cakes and scones, clotted cream and strawberry jam.
Well, some streets are changed completely and there are whole neighbourhoods where they've been transformed.
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