Jordan Bardella traveled to Reform UK's annual conference, held September 3 to 5 at the NEC in Birmingham, to show his support for Nigel Farage, just as the British party leader navigates a particularly difficult stretch. The National Rally president signed a memorandum of understanding with Farage aimed at ending, in their words, small boat crossings of the Channel forever, should their respective parties come to power.
Farage called the agreement a genuine new entente cordiale between the two countries and the two parties. Under the deal, a future National Rally led French government would accept the return of migrants who launch from French shores, enter British territorial waters, and are sent back to France. It also commits to backing Reform UK's proposed Operation Fortress, under which the Royal Navy and Royal Marines would intercept small boats, remove everyone on board, and return those attempting to reach the UK illegally to France.
The show of solidarity comes as Farage faces a restarted parliamentary standards investigation into an undeclared 5 million pound payment from crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne. A second controversy surfaced in July, over undisclosed benefits provided by George Cottrell, a Farage ally previously convicted of fraud, though Reform UK has insisted no rules were broken. The party has also weathered internal turmoil, suspending Tim Montgomerie and reprimanding Zia Yusuf.
Despite the turbulence, Farage used the conference to declare that Reform UK was now preparing for government, pledging to end the arrival of migrants by boat within two weeks, bring back tougher stop and search policing, and scrap net zero targets. Bardella's presence at his side underscores the deepening ties between the French and British nationalist right, less than eight months before France's presidential election and as Reform UK sits atop the polls in Britain.