Nigel Farage received a warm – and rather musical – welcome as he hit the campaign trail in Runcorn ahead of a crucial by-election, which is shaping up to be a litmus test for both his Reform UK party and the newly elected Labour Government.
The Reform UK leader spent around 15 minutes on Monday afternoon walking along Church Street in the Cheshire town, accompanied by Sarah Pochin, the party’s candidate for the Runcorn and Helsby seat. The by-election was triggered by the resignation of Labour MP Mike Amesbury, who stepped down following his conviction for assaulting a constituent.
Farage, no stranger to the spotlight, cheerfully posed for selfies, shook hands with residents and engaged in light-hearted banter with shoppers. But it was a surprise serenade that stole the moment.
Local resident Alan Ayres emerged with a guitar after exchanging a few words with the Reform leader and, joined by a friend, launched into a rendition of The Kinks’ 1966 hit Sunny Afternoon – a song famously critical of heavy taxation under a previous Labour government.
Grinning and clapping along, Farage seemed delighted by the impromptu street performance. “The tax man’s taken all my dough,” sang Ayres, a lyric that echoed the Reform UK narrative of economic frustration and overbearing state intervention.
“I love what you do, mate,” Ayres told Farage after the performance. “It’s what Britain needs. I don’t mean to be rude but we don’t need Keir Starmer, we don’t need that.”
The warm reception stood in stark contrast to more controversial moments during the visit. As Farage walked towards the town’s promenade to give media interviews, a passing motorist shouted an offensive anti-immigration slur. Farage made no public comment on the remark.
Speaking to the PA news agency afterwards, the former Brexit Party leader and I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! contestant was keen to temper expectations, despite recent polling that suggests Reform UK is within striking distance of victory in the seat.
“All I can say is it’s Labour’s 16th safest seat,” he said. “They’re only nine months into a landslide government – it’s a must-win for them. We are, by our estimates at the moment, maybe a little bit behind but it really is a little bit.
“It’s going to be very, very close and, boy, if we win this, this will be one of the most dramatic by-elections of modern political history.”
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Reform UK’s candidate, Sarah Pochin, is a former Conservative councillor in Cheshire East, but Farage insisted the party is drawing support from across the political spectrum.
“We’ve got people from the centre-right and the centre-left that support this party,” he said. “The reason we’re doing so well is there are many millions of us who think that economically and societally this country is going downhill and it needs a change of direction.”
The by-election is particularly significant as it marks the first electoral test for Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Government since their landslide victory last year. It will be held on 1 May, coinciding with local elections across England.
While Labour has held the Runcorn and Helsby seat with a comfortable majority in recent years, the circumstances of the by-election – including the controversy surrounding the outgoing MP – and growing support for Reform UK make it a race to watch closely.
Farage’s visit, with all its music, media, and political theatre, was characteristic of a man who has long relished the role of political outsider shaking up the establishment. Whether his party can convert street-level enthusiasm into ballots remains to be seen.
