BIRMINGHAM, England — European diplomats are quietly courting Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, as the party gathers for its annual conference this week — with several EU countries sending representatives for the first time. Germany, Italy and Spain are among the nations dispatching officials to the party’s conference in Birmingham, as capitals begin to grapple with the prospect of Farage’s party entering government. Farage’s party has seen a decline in public support over the course of 2026, but is still neck-and-neck in the polls with the governing Labour party, which is enjoying a polling bounce after the appointment of Andy Burnham as prime minister in July.
A Farage government would pose challenges for the European Union. Reform has pledged to unwind the “reset” deals that the Labour government is negotiating with Brussels — and renegotiate the post-Brexit trade deal. It also wants to revisit the U.K.’s migrant returns deal with France, while removing EU settled status for welfare claimants and student loans for foreign nationals.
Tensions between the EU and Reform have remained high over the last year, with the bloc considering a so-called “Farage clause” designed to protect the reset from being rolled back by a future government. Farage, however, has already warned he would “not honour any clause.” Berlin, Rome and Madrid aren’t the only capitals sending delegates in an effort to improve ties with the party. Representatives from Denmark, Norway, Finland, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Ireland, the Netherlands, Poland, and Romania are also expected to descend on Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre for this week’s conference, according to multiple people familiar with embassy plans.
Officials attending this year are largely political affairs officers and other diplomats, rather than the ambassadors themselves — a signal that European capitals are looking to establish contact with Reform without elevating the engagement to the highest diplomatic level. France will not be sending representatives to this year’s conference, two EU diplomats told POLITICO — as Reform UK invites Jordan Bardella, president of France’s far-right National Rally, to address Farage’s supporters on Friday. The French embassy did not respond to a request for comment at the time of publication.
French President Emmanuel Macron visited Downing Street on Thursday morning for his first bilateral meeting with British prime minister Andy Burnham, before heading to the British Museum to see the Bayeux Tapestry exhibition, which has returned to England from France for the first time in more than 900 years. Reform’s conference is expected to draw around 2,000 more attendees than last year, according to internal figures. Reform declined to comment on the increased embassy engagement.
Clea Caulcutt contributed to this report.
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