Advance UK

Last updated

Advance UK
Chairperson not yet elected
Leader Ben Habib
FoundersChristian Russell, Richard J. Shaw, Mohammad Shoaib Sohail [1]
Founded30 June 2025
Split from Reform UK
Membership (2025)29,000 [2]
Political position Far-right [3]
SloganOur Future Together
Website
https://www.advanceuk.org.uk/

Advance UK (formerly known as the Integrity Party) is a British far-right [3] political party led by Ben Habib, the former Deputy Leader of Reform UK. The party was launched in its current form in 2025, following Habib's departure from Reform UK in November 2024 due to internal disagreements and a reported fallout with Nigel Farage and Zia Yusuf.

Contents

History

Ben Habib, who had fallen out of favour with Nigel Farage and left Reform UK, had stated his intention to form a party to the right of Reform. [4]

In April 2025, Habib announced he would be taking over the Integrity Party, which had been created by Christian Russell and Richard J. Shaw in 2024. [5] Habib stated that he intended to make sure the party was properly set up and organised before applying to the Electoral Commission for registration. [5]

On 30 June 2025, Habib announced that he had launched a political party, Advance UK. He aims to reach 30,000 members. [4] The party has the same legal identity as the Integrity Party, with the limited company previously named as the Integrity Party having been renamed as the Advance UK Party Limited. [3]

The party’s launch coincided with the announcement of Restore Britain, a organisation set up by another former Reform UK member, independent MP Rupert Lowe.

Richard Inman, an event organiser for prominent far-right [6] [7] activist Tommy Robinson, and member of UKIP's National Executive Committee (NEC), announced on 4 July 2025, that he had joined the party. [8] Robinson himself announced he would be joining the party in early August, posting a video endorsing Advance, recorded in advance as he had left the country following an alleged assault suspected to be committed by him in late July. [9] [10]

Research from Hope Not Hate in August 2025 suggested that a Durham county councillor, Paul Bean, was going to join Advance UK to become its first councillor. [11]

In August 2025, Elon Musk declared his support for Advance UK, stating "Advance UK will actually drive change. Farage is weak sauce who will do nothing", [12] and Habib himself claimed that Musk had urged him to set up a party earlier in 2025. [13]

At Tommy Robinson's 'Unite the Kingdom' rally, held in London on 13 September 2025, Advance were listed as one of the sponsors for the event. [14] [15] Habib was one of the speakers at the rally, which saw an estimated turnout of over 110,000. [16] [17]

Ideology and policy

Habib, who previously served as a Brexit Party MEP for London from 2019 until 2020, and later stood as the Reform UK parliamentary candidate in both the 2024 Wellingborough by-election, and in Wellingborough and Rushden at the 2024 general election, announced the creation of Advance UK with the stated aim of "saving the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland." The party emphasises principles such as national sovereignty, freedom of speech, democracy, and equality before the law. [4] [18]

In April 2025, Habib announced that the then Integrity Party would remove all of the Quangos created by Tony Blair, and enact "Liz Truss style" tax-cuts. [5]

The party has been described by Sean O’Grady in The Independent as amongst the far-right fringe parties and 'quite possibly' extremist. [3] It has also been labelled as far-right in articles from Nation.Cymru , [19] the Evening Standard [20] and HuffPost , [21] while the Daily Mirror described it as 'hard-right'. [22] The Spectator has labelled it as right-wing. [23]

Structure

The party plans to create a 'college' of representatives that will vote for proposed policies, and is intended to guide the party's board of directors and the executive, consisting of the party leaders. [4] [3] The arrangement has been described by Sean O'Grady in The Independent as complicated and likely to lead to internal friction. [3]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "ADVANCE UK PARTY LIMITED people - Find and update company information - GOV.UK". find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk. Retrieved 25 July 2025.
  2. ↑ Hazell, Will (5 September 2025). "How Elon Musk and Reform tensions could threaten Nigel Farage's path to power". The i Paper. Retrieved 9 September 2025.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 O'Grady, Sean (30 June 2025). "How does Rupert Lowe's Restore Britain differ from Reform UK?". The Independent. Retrieved 3 July 2025.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Self, Josh (30 June 2025). "Ex-Reform deputy launches new party to rival Nigel Farage". Politics.co.uk. Retrieved 30 June 2025.
  5. 1 2 3 Hazell, Will (24 April 2025). "The new right-wing party that wants to put Farage's Reform out of business". The i Paper. Retrieved 24 April 2025.
  6. ↑ Aikman, Tom (16 April 2025). "Tommy Robinson loses appeal against prison sentence". BBC News. Retrieved 5 July 2025.
  7. ↑ Sherwood, Harriet; Quinn, Ben (1 November 2024). "He's like a gangster': How Tommy Robinson became leader of Britain's far right". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 July 2025.
  8. ↑ "Top 'Tommy Robinson' organiser joins Ben Habib's Advance UK". Searchlight. 4 July 2025. Retrieved 5 July 2025.
  9. ↑ Peters, Tony (3 August 2025). "Tommy Robinson joins Ben Habib's Advance UK | Searchlight" . Retrieved 3 August 2025.
  10. ↑ Frayne, James (4 August 2025). "Tommy Robinson is the perfect enemy for Nigel Farage" . The Telegraph. ISSN   0307-1235 . Retrieved 5 August 2025.
  11. ↑ Gregory (15 August 2025). "First Reform UK Councillor defects to Advance?". HOPE not hate. Retrieved 19 August 2025.
  12. ↑ "Elon Musk launches fresh attack on 'weak' Nigel Farage". The Independent. 26 August 2025. Retrieved 27 August 2025.
  13. ↑ Holl-Allen, Genevieve (27 August 2025). "Revealed: Elon Musk urged Farage rival to set up new party". The Telegraph. ISSN   0307-1235. Archived from the original on 27 August 2025. Retrieved 27 August 2025.
  14. ↑ "Prepare for revolution now, Elon Musk tells London rally as police come under attack". The Observer. 14 September 2025. Retrieved 14 September 2025.
  15. ↑ "Britain's Biggest Far-Right Protest: More than 100,000 attend Tommy Robinson's Unite The Kingdom Rally". Hope Not Hate. 13 September 2025. Retrieved 14 September 2025.
  16. ↑ "Dozens of officers injured as up to 150,000 join Tommy Robinson rally". BBC News. 13 September 2025. Retrieved 15 September 2025.
  17. ↑ "Elon Musk tells Tommy Robinson protest 'violence is coming' in call for change in UK government". The Independent. 13 September 2025. Retrieved 15 September 2025.
  18. ↑ "'Weak sauce': Elon Musk reignites public spat with Nigel Farage". euronews. 27 August 2025. Retrieved 28 August 2025.
  19. ↑ Mansfield, Mark (14 August 2025). "Far right party linked to 'Tommy Robinson' allowed to promote itself at Welsh Show". Nation.Cymru. Retrieved 15 August 2025.
  20. ↑ Howe, Megan (27 August 2025). "Elon Musk backs Tommy Robinson and blasts Nigel Farage as Reform pledges deportations". The Standard. Retrieved 28 August 2025.
  21. ↑ "Elon Musk Re-Ignites Farage Feud With Attack On His Mass Deportation Plan". HuffPost UK. 27 August 2025. Archived from the original on 27 August 2025. Retrieved 31 August 2025.
  22. ↑ "Shameless Musk shows support for Tommy Robinson after reigniting Farage feud". The Mirror. 27 August 2025. Retrieved 28 August 2025.
  23. ↑ "Can these Farage rivals' start-ups hurt Reform?". The Spectator. 1 July 2025. Retrieved 3 September 2025.
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