“Tactical planning starts now,” Richard Tice told Reform staff inside the party’s Birmingham war room early on Friday morning.
Reform UK’s deputy leader was buoyant following early signs of success in his push to take down Labour and the Tories in the West Midlands.
Results from Dudley, Redditch and Tamworth painted a pretty picture for Reform UK, although turquoise remained missing from the map as blotches of grey illustrated the challenge posed by chunks of wards going up for grabs.
Mr Tice’s attention quickly turned to how Reform UK could take control of local councils without commanding a majority of seats
“We are already looking at the councils where, essentially, there is no majority control,” Mr Tice told GB News shortly before 11am.
However, it was a former Conservative MP sifting through the results and setting out the strategy in Reform’s war room.
Ben Bradley, an ex-Red Wall MP who defected to Reform to lead Mr Farage’s local government unit, was glued to his colour-coded spreadsheet as results trickled in across the country.
“We’ve won a significant number of seats in both Labour and Conservative heartlands,” Mr Bradley said.
“The thing is, for me, working with our local Government team, working out where you form administrations, how that would work, balancing the practical bits and politics of all that.”
Sitting beside Reform’s deputy leader, Mr Bradley was tapping away at his keyboard as Reform UK’s expectations continued to change in real time.
Ben Bradley and Richard Tice strategised about potential outcomes of hung councils
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The former Nottinghamshire County Council leader was also fielding calls, and plenty of them, from across the country.
Discussing strategy alongside Mr Tice, the pair spelt out to local councillors how to proceed in areas where only a third of wards had been in play.
Phone calls flooded in from Basildon to Sunderland and Hartlepool to Nuneaton as Reform’s number-crunchers mulled over what to do next.
Under the radar, Reform UK’s overall council control tally kept increasing, with insiders suggesting at least seven more could eventually be led by a predominantly turquoise administration.
“We’re taking seats from both the Tories and Labour,” Mr Tice remarked. “They’re both having, in different ways, terrible nights.”
Dozens more were expected to become future targets for the party, with second-place being seen as an opportunity to take on Labour and the Tories at a later date.
The Reform UK deputy leader was greeted by activists at the Birmingham count
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Southampton, perhaps overlooked by most commentators, was identified as a key example.
The coastal city had 17 seats up for grabs, with Reform UK snatching eight as Labour and the Tories went from securing 16 to just two.
But Mr Bradley is also taking on a hands-on approach in delivering at a local level.
GB News understands existing council leaders will soon be instructed to mentor Reform’s fresh-faced recruits shortly after they take office.
Mr Tice also defended the record of Reform-run councils, with Labour MPs lobbing lowball questions about the authorities to Sir Keir Starmer at Prime Minister’s Questions.
Pointing out Newcastle-under-Lyme all falls under the area of Reform-run Staffordshire, Mr Tice told GB News earlier in the morning: “It’s a complete endorsement of the fact that we’ve been running the councils where we’ve been given control successfully.
“We’ve been delivering savings, lower council tax rises than the other parties and delivering really good outcomes.”
A pizza delivery kept Reform’s energy up in the West Midlands
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It also became increasingly clear that Reform considers local councils a stepping stone to power in 2029, but not at any cost.
“We’re prioritising co-operation over coalition,” a Reform source said.
Mr Farage later opened the door to doing deals with the Tories after the next general election.
Speaking to GB News, the Reform UK leader said: “I’m not absolutely ruling out flying to the moon, but it’s not what I want to do and I find it highly undesirable.”
And the wargaming continued throughout the day as contests came down to the finest of margins.
Bexley dealt a blow to Reform’s charge, with the south-east London target sticking with the Tories.
Richard Tice also found time to talk to GB News’s Jack Carson
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A quick croissant and coffee boost helped steady the nerves inside Reform’s Birmingham bunker as chipper noises seeped through from counts across the West Midlands.
Mr Tice, who last year oversaw Reform’s East Midlands campaign, had been laying the groundwork for a Reform surge to the west for months.
Having visited all 13 council areas up for grabs, Mr Tice headed to the count with a spring in his step.
Reform activists swarmed the Boston & Skegness MP, as did a group of sixth formers who were later spotted cheering on the declarations in the gods of the Utilita Arena.
However, expectations varied on what to expect from England’s second city.
Ben Bradley discussed Reform UK’s strategy with GB News
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Birmingham, which had already bucked the trend in 2016 by voting for Brexit, remained a five-way split ahead of polling day.
One Reform source explained: “Someone could win a ward with less than 20 per cent of the vote, it’s that tight.”
An optimistic poll released ahead of May 7 had led some local activists to predict bigger gains, with suggestions of a majority briefly floating around the count.
But more seasoned campaigners kept their feet closer to the ground. “Twenty seats would be a success,” one said.
Big beasts from across the political spectrum descended on Birmingham.
Ahead of the first declaration, Mr Tice was even spotted catching up with Reform’s parliamentary wind-up merchant Ayoub Khan, a pro-Gaza independent MP who was himself flanked by adoring supporters.
An optimistic poll released ahead of May 7 had led some local activists to predict bigger gains, with suggestions of a majority briefly floating around the count
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And the first set of results soon proved just how unpredictable Birmingham would be.
Reform UK and the Greens had both picked up wards at Labour’s expense, with the Tories also managing to hold onto key seats.
Speaking to GB News shortly after 1pm, Mr Tice said: “It’s incredibly close. Every seat is like a three or four-way marginal.”
He added: “As a general trend, we’re doing very well, the Greens are doing very well, and Labour is doing a lot worse than we thought.”
Results continued to trickle in across the canal-lined city throughout the day, eventually seeing Reform UK emerge as the largest party with 22 out of 101 wards.
However, surprises sprang up across the city, with Reform being edged out in some wards by just a few hundred votes.
Richard Tice welcomed GB News for behind-the-scenes access to Reform UK’s operation in the West Midlands
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“We were always going to win some we didn’t expect and lose some we hoped to win,” one source said.
Labour suffered the most in the city, in part due to the ongoing dispute about bin strikes.
“Many people were saying that the issues for them were the state of the roads, the bin strike,” Labour MP Preet Kaur Gill told GB News.
“Of course, many people [are] fed up that it had gone on for way too long, even though the council had now had a multi-year funding settlement from the Government.”
She added: “The Labour Party nationally and locally will reflect on the message that the British public have given us and we will make sure that the change that we need to deliver is not only felt by people, but the fact that our communication means that people know about it.”
Mr Tice also celebrated results across the region. “We’ve absolutely smashed it,” Reform UK’s deputy leader said.
‘Many people were saying that the issues for them were the state of the roads, the bin strike,’ Labour MP Preet Kaur Gill told GB News
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After the Boston & Skegness MP left the count in Birmingham, Reform UK claimed outright victories in Sandwell and Walsall, while also making huge inroads in Tory-facing Solihull and Labour-leaning Coventry.
Cannock Chase, which is home to early defector Aidan Burley, also delivered a full set of Reform wins, with 13 of the wards up for grabs being hoovered up by the turquoise surge.
GB News also heard from a former Tory MP welcoming Reform’s surge in the West Midlands.
Marco Longhi, who defected to Reform UK last year, picked up a ward in Dudley as the party swept the Black Country.
“I’m obviously delighted and humbled to return to elected politics,” he told The People’s Channel.
“I never stopped working locally after standing down as an MP, so to receive that level of support means a great deal to me personally.”
Richard Tice arrived at the count shortly after 11.45am
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Having narrowly missed out on re-election in 2024, Mr Longhi added: “There is clearly a real political realignment taking place, particularly across the Black Country, and I believe this is only the beginning.”
It was a similar story for ex-MP Jonathan Gullis. The teacher-turned-politician completed his comeback in nearby Newcastle-under-Lyme, with the relatively new Reform recruit returning to frontline politics as a result of a surge in support for Nigel Farage’s party.
Much has been made of Tory defectors to Reform UK, with Mr Farage holding firm that no more Conservatives will be able to cross over now his May 7 deadline has passed.
But Reform insiders heaped praise on Mr Gullis and Mr Longhi at a local level.
“They are going to be assets,” one said. “They have experience and know exactly how the machine works.”
Away from the West Midlands, Reform insiders became increasingly confident about results across once-staunch Tory heartlands.
Richard Tice also defended Reform-run councils while visiting Keele University
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Margaret Thatcher’s ‘Essex Man’ broke emphatically for Reform, as did his neighbours in Suffolk.
Meanwhile, early results from East Sussex intensified the belief that Reform could blunt Kemi Badenoch’s hopes of a Tory revival.
“If you look at the Tory vote in its former heartlands, it’s falling to us,” one Reform source told GB News as the arrival of pizzas brought some relief to staffers.
“I just don’t know if Kemi’s message can hold. She would lose her seat to us, so would Cleverly and Priti. Where is this Tory comeback?”
Mrs Badenoch lauded the Tory Party’s victory in Bexley and Westminster.
“I said that we were going to rebuild after our worst defeat ever and we can see those signs of renewal everywhere that we are standing,” the Leader of the Opposition said.
Counting was slow to kick off in Birmingham, with several districts across the West Midlands already declaring results
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And it was not just in London that the Conservative Party managed to defy its critics.
Harlow and Broxbourne also proved particularly successful for Mrs Badenoch.
Tories have also been gleefully pointing out that Reform UK’s national support has declined slightly, dropping from 31 per cent last year to 27 per cent.
Reform UK was also handed a surprise setback in Norfolk after Rupert Lowe’s Great Yarmouth First outfit picked up nine seats to deny Mr Farage a clean sweep of East Anglia.
However, Mr Farage’s party is still around seven points ahead of the Conservatives nationally, with Labour still in the doldrums on 15 per cent.
And Brexit continues to leave its mark on the electorate. Reform’s support in Leave-voting England holds firm and delivers gains for Mr Farage, while inroads into the Remain-leaning shires appear comparatively limited.
Richard Tice welcomed results across the West Midlands, including Dudley
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Despite the small set of Conservative victories, the Tories still lost more than 500 councillors for a second consecutive year, losing control of six once-flagship Conservative councils as a result.
But Tory woes could not compare to Labour’s drastic drop in support.
From Wales to Wigan and Thurrock to Tyneside, formerly loyal Labour supporters deserted Sir Keir in their droves.
Plaid Cymru and the Green Party also managed to siphon off Labour votes, with the Prime Minister’s collapse being particularly prominent in Hackney and Waltham Forest.
Meanwhile, Scottish Labour appeared to suffer as a result of the Greens and Reform UK making huge breakthroughs, with Malcolm Offord now vying with Anas Sarwar to become Leader of the Opposition in Holyrood.
“The Prime Minister’s position, it’s hard to see how it is sustainable,” the Boston & Skegness MP told GB News.
A grinning Reform insider later quipped: ‘I know Keir Starmer isn’t going to walk, do you reckon he’ll get a taxi?’
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Around 30 Labour MPs have now called on the Prime Minister to resign or set out a timetable for his departure from No10, including Hartlepool MP Jonathan Brash.
Mr Brash, who had already called on Sir Keir to quit, doubled down on his call after his wife’s bid to become a local councillor was thwarted by a Reform clean sweep.
Sir Keir immediately dismissed calls to step down, instead calling on the support of his Cabinet colleagues.
“I’m not going to walk away and plunge the country into chaos,” the bruised Prime Minister said. “The results are tough, they are very tough, and there’s no sugarcoating it.
“We have lost brilliant Labour representatives across the country. These are people who put so much into their communities, so much into our party.”
A grinning Reform insider later quipped: “I know Keir Starmer isn’t going to walk, do you reckon he’ll get a taxi?”