The First 100 Days

Follow the build-up to Reform UK’s 2026 Party Conference in Birmingham as senior figures film their crucial 100-day pledges. Join us behind the scenes with Suella Braverman at her London home, Richard Tice on a beach in Skegness, Robert Jenrick at Hoxton Docks, and Nigel Farage in Clacton.

Reform supporters give their verdict as the pledges are unveiled at a packed NEC, with Tice, Braverman and Jenrick promising to step down if they fail to deliver, while Farage makes clear that failure will not go unanswered!

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SPEAKER_08 0:06

It's Wednesday, the 2nd of September, and the Birmingham NEC is a flurry of activity. The Reform UK Party conference is less than 24 hours away, and behind the scenes, the transformation of this vast empty hall is progressing well. Men in hard hats and high veers are perched high above the venue on telehandlers, fixing lights as the conference stage takes shape below. And in one corner of the venue, our own little podcast stage is beginning to come together too. In a matter of hours, this enormous exhibition space will be packed with thousands of reform supporters, elected counsellors, and journalists. And at the centre of it all, Reform's senior figures will set out what they'll deliver in government in their first 100 days. But this is not where the story began. In Suela's kitchen, the reform crew were setting up cameras, adjusting lights, and getting ready for her to record a promise politicians very rarely make.

unknown 1:45

Hello!

SPEAKER_08 1:46

Suella told me her kitchen is the heart of her home.

SPEAKER_01 1:49

I do make a nice roast. Yeah. I love making roast. I'm actually quite good at roast potatoes. Yeah, and I can do a good roast lamb, chauffeur puddings.

SPEAKER_08 1:58

Clearly, Soella and I could have swapped recipes for days, but we were there for something far more important to record her pledge as shallow education and skills secretary for reform's first 100 days in government.

SPEAKER_01 2:11

We are gonna pledge to scrap the cap on medical training places because we don't train enough of our own doctors or nurses, and instead we are importing thousands of doctors and nurses from abroad. We're rejecting and turning down thousands of young British students who want to train as doctors, and we don't have enough doctors to build our NHS. The average GP is servicing about 2,000 patients. It's not we don't have the capacity, so that that is the pledge.

SPEAKER_08 2:49

One of the crew commented that making a pledge like this is actually pretty unusual for a politician.

SPEAKER_01 2:55

Yeah. Yeah, no Tory Prime Minister ever asked me to make a pledge. I mean actually I was trying to get them to keep their pledges. And they didn't want to keep the pledges, so uh actually this is quite nice.

SPEAKER_08 3:06

As she was putting the finishing touches to her script, Soella told us about her family healthcare connection.

SPEAKER_01 3:12

My mum was a nurse. Yeah. Yeah. Um she started at 18 as a nurse, and then um she actually um she worked at Holloway Prison as a nurse there. Yeah, for about five years in the 70s with Myra Hindley. So she nursed Myra Hindley. Yeah. Um and then she found it a little bit too nerve-wracking because nurses were getting beaten up, yeah. Um propositioned as well by the female inmates. Oh, okay. Um it was all pretty uh sordid in there. And then she's like, okay, I'm not sure I really like working here, and then she went to Great Almond Street, yeah. The other extreme. Um, and then she did like uh pediatrics there. And then when I was born in 1980, she uh became a district nurse. So just like community, and I'm from this area, so she uh nursed around here, like going to old people's houses, and and then she did that for like most of her career.

SPEAKER_08 4:14

Cameras all set up, it was finally time to record.

SPEAKER_01 4:18

We need to talk about the future. I remember when I was 16 and my mum and dad sat me down to talk about life, but the truth is that for too many young people today, their futures look bleak. We've got one million young people not in education, employment, or training. We've got 700,000 graduates unemployed, 400,000 of whom are on welfare. This is a national scandal. How did we get into this mess? Well, it all started in 1999 when Tony Blair promised that 50% of young people must go to university. That was a disaster. It devalued university degrees, it created an explosion of mediocre institutions, and it saddled a whole generation with tens of thousands of pounds worth of debt. It's cost the taxpayer 22 billion pounds every year, hundreds of billions of pounds of which will never be paid back. And what's more, we've got massive shortages in our economy, whether it's construction or manufacturing, whether it's our NHS, we don't have enough GPs, we don't have enough nurses. And did you know that last year 25,000 young people applied to study medicine, but only a third were accepted. Did you know that Brunel University recently opened a medical school and every student that enrolled was from abroad? We don't have enough of our own doctors, and we're importing thousands of doctors and nurses from abroad. This is madness. So a reform government will fix this. And my pledge to you, the British people, is that in the first 100 days of a reform UK government, we will scrap the cap on medical training places. We'll make it easier to train our own nurses because we want to support British young people who want to learn, who want to work in RNHS, and who want to rebuild our country. If I don't deliver that, I will resign.

SPEAKER_08 6:49

After we'd finished filming, Zweller and I went for a chat in the living room. So how are you feeling about all of this?

SPEAKER_01 6:56

I think one of the big reasons millions of people are so frustrated and disillusioned with government is because of broken promises. And I saw it firsthand when I was home secretary. I wanted to keep the manifesto promise of cutting immigration, and yet my conservative colleagues like Rishi Sooner, like Jeremy Hunt, like Kami May, like all of them in that cabinet did not want to keep that promise. And I didn't know why I was struggling so much to keep a promise. And I think lack of trust is a big problem in British politics, and I think making these pledges in a very serious, almost solemn way reflects our determination to the British people. We're not here to play around. We understand that you don't trust a lot of politicians, and reform is different. That's one of the reasons I joined reform because of credibility. I trust Nigel, I trust the people who are in reform who are here to fix the country, and they're not going to stop until they do it. And I feel daunted by making pledges because it puts pressure on you, but that is a very healthy pressure, and we need to be held to account.

unknown 8:28

Amazing!

SPEAKER_08 8:29

A few days later, I was in a not so sunny Skeg Nest to record a pledge with local MP, Reform's Deputy Leader, and Shadow Business, Trade and Energy Secretary Richard Tice.

SPEAKER_07 8:40

I think look, they're not turning, but people are flying kites. It's windy enough to fly kites, but it's not windy enough to turn turn those.

SPEAKER_08 8:48

I was flummoxed. I was standing on the beach surrounded by kite flyers, taking advantage of the windy conditions, and in front of me, far out to sea, were dozens of grotty-looking wind turbines. Their blades as still as statues.

SPEAKER_06 9:03

This is interesting, you're absolutely right. There's a whole load that are not turning. It's windy, but they're not turning. What's going on there?

SPEAKER_07 9:12

You've got two of them, haven't you? Two lots.

SPEAKER_06 9:14

Two lots. The first lot, Linen Dowsing, were built in 2008-9. So they're just coming to the end of their 20-year renewable obligation contract, the rock. They're earning an absolute fortune. They're getting a subsidies of over 200 million pounds a year.

SPEAKER_08 9:32

Wow.

SPEAKER_06 9:32

Yeah. Across the whole lot.

SPEAKER_08 9:34

We're subsidising them why?

SPEAKER_06 9:37

Why? To encourage them to build them, that's the whole question. We were told they'd bring the bills down, and yet they're subsidising them. Absolutely madness.

SPEAKER_07 9:44

After 20 years, we're still subsidizing them.

SPEAKER_06 9:46

Still subsidising them. They've got a 20-year contract at a hugely inflated price. They can't believe their luck. Yeah, it's an outrage. And now they're looking for ever higher subsidies in order to build more. And we were told they would bring the bills down, but they haven't. They've increased the bills.

SPEAKER_08 10:01

As we waited for the crew to set up on Skegness Promenade, it seemed like business as usual. The arcades and attractions, including a giant Big Ben themed ride, all vying for the attention of those few holiday makers who had braved the wind and grey Lincolnshire sky.

SPEAKER_06 10:18

Yeah, just talking to the uh the donkey guy came up to me. He's got 10 donkeys, he'd normally have about 18 today. It's well down.

SPEAKER_08 10:24

Richard told me the cost of living crisis was affecting businesses and families.

SPEAKER_06 10:29

He said people haven't got the money, and uh the young kids are just yeah, ice creams, everything's just everything's gone up. How's that? Testing, testing, one, two, three, four, five, how's that?

SPEAKER_08 10:40

Finally, it was time to get underway.

SPEAKER_06 10:42

I'm Richard Tice, and this is my 100-day pledge. Behind me are the wind farms, the renewables that they said would bring your bills down. They lied and lied and lied. The more renewables we build with more subsidies, the more your bills are going up. They've doubled in some seven years. The truth is, and it's common sense, that because the wind doesn't always blow, and although it's a bit windy today, some of these wind turbines are not actually turning. And also when the sun doesn't shine for the solar farms, guess what? You need backup. And obviously, the cost of renewables plus backup must cost more than just backup. That's why the bills are going up and up and up. And my pledge to you, the British people, is that within 100 days of a reform government, I will bring down the annual average household energy cost by 250 pounds. And if I don't bring the bills down by 250 pounds per year, in the first hundred days, I will resign. I will resign. Come on, one take tice. I think that could be bloody awesome. That is the business.

SPEAKER_08 12:10

With the rain starting to fall, a jubilant Richard and I took shelter in a nearby hotel to discuss his pledge and why he believes politicians should be held to account.

SPEAKER_06 12:20

For mine about the cost of energy, you know, I've been banging on about this for about four years now. I was the first sort of senior political figure to say there's a massive crisis of the cost of net zero. Adding to bills, destroying jobs, destroying our economy. And I've been proven completely right on this. And you had Labour and Miliband at the last election a couple of years ago saying they were going to reduce energy bills by £300 per household. They've done the opposite. They're soaring. And current forecasts are they're currently a couple of hundred pounds more expensive than at the election. They're going higher still. And I thought, actually, people are sick of waffle. They're sick and tired of the talk. They want someone to deliver, they want action, they want a real commitment. And in business, I'm a businessman. You get held to account on your performance, you get measured properly, and if you really mess up, then you might lose your job. You might be fired. And we were thinking about it and said, well, surely politicians should be held accountable. And I still consider myself a businessman, and I thought, yeah, I'm gonna put a number on it that we're gonna reduce the average household bill by on an annual basis, and if I kind of get that done and sorted in the first hundred days, then I'm gonna resign.

SPEAKER_07 13:56

How do you think the public will react to your pledge but also to the wider concept of you know all of the reform senior figures making these 100-day pledges, kind of putting their money where their mouth is?

SPEAKER_06 14:08

I hope people will be delighted that here are some people who want to run the country, who've got real experience out there in the real world, who are, yeah, we're gonna put our neck on the line and we're gonna say we're gonna get this done. And if not, then then we're done, we're out. And they'll say, Wow, that's what I want from someone who's running the country. So I'm now gonna look at the other parties and say, Where's your pledge? What are you gonna commit to? Or are you just gonna hang on uh and try and climb up the uh the greasy tree of your respective party? We're different. We're saying this is it, this is important to people. Everybody talks about the cost of living, everybody talks at home about the cost of gas and electricity. Every small business, every medium business, large business is talking about the cost of energy, the cost of electricity, and we're being driven towards electricity, wrongly in my opinion, and the price of it's going through the roof. It's completely bonkers. And I'm on behalf of voters, I'm sick of it. I'm sick of being lied to. I'm sick of them telling us that renewables will make things cheaper. They're literally doing the opposite. And yeah, so I'm standing up and be counted.

SPEAKER_08 15:32

My next stop was Hoxton Docks, an old industrial building in East London, where Rob Jenrick had just unveiled reform's plans to rescue Britain's small businesses. As the previous crew dismantled his stage, hours were setting up, ready to record the Shadow Chancellor's 100-day pledge.

SPEAKER_03 15:52

Where do you want me to? I thought you wanted me to walk in. I thought you wanted me to walk in to shop.

SPEAKER_08 15:59

Where Barges once unloaded coal for Londoners, Rob was about to make a profound promise to Alarm Clock Britain, one that would put more money in the pockets of hardworking people and for some potentially change their lives.

SPEAKER_02 16:13

I'm Robert Jenrick, and this is my 100-day pledge. I know life's hard at the moment. Times are tough. That's why I want to give you some relief. I want to cut your taxes. A tax cut for everyone, but particularly for working people and for pensioners who've worked hard their whole lives, not for big business, not for the super rich, but for you. In the first 100 days, I'll hold a budget in which I'll increase the tax-free personal allowance to £15,000. And if I don't deliver this, within 100 days, I will resign. And this is just the beginning. Our ambition with time is that the first £20,000 you earn is tax-free. Reform can do this because we've got the most comprehensive plan of any political party to tackle our ballooning benefits bill. Reform can do this because we're going to end illegal migration. We're going to end net zero subsidies, and we're going to end paying foreign aid to rich countries. At the general election, Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves promised change. They lied to you. They promised not to raise taxes on working people, but they did. What enough? Reform is different. When I resigned from the last government over their lies on immigration, I refused to be just another politician who made promises that I didn't keep. And if I don't deliver, within a hundred days, I will resign.

SPEAKER_08 17:58

With the filming done, I squeezed into Rob's car on the way back to Reform HQ to find out more about the thinking behind his pledge. So Rob, it's a big pledge. How confident are you that you can actually achieve this?

SPEAKER_02 18:10

Well, I wouldn't make it unless I was certain that I could do it. And look, the only reason that reform is able to do this is because we put the hard yards in and we've come up with the most comprehensive plan of any of the political parties to tackle the ballooning welfare bill, £51 billion of savings. It's because of that that we can cut people's taxes. We can provide some relief for working people and for pensioners who have worked hard their whole lives and just want dignity and security for the rest of their lives. And look, there was a choice at the heart of this. If we're going to cut taxes, who are we going to do it for? And reform, we've chosen, we're not going to do it for the super rich, we're not going to do it for big business. We're going to do it for the people who really need it the most. Our people, working people.

SPEAKER_07 18:57

Do you feel nervous about it?

SPEAKER_02 19:00

Well, yes, in the sense that these are difficult pledges. We're promising to do things that previous governments have failed to do. It's a privilege to be a member of Parliament, it's a privilege to be in government. Being Chancellor of the Exchequer is an awesome responsibility. You're there to protect people's savings, their pensions, their mortgages, their small businesses, to be the guardian of people's money, of the of the economy of our country. That is a big responsibility, and I take that very, very seriously.

SPEAKER_08 19:33

In terms of actually being Chancellor, it's the role itself, does that excite you? And what else have you sort of thinking about in future?

SPEAKER_02 19:41

Well it's an incredible opportunity. You are there right at the heart of government, and you know, your job is to protect people and their money, but also to get this economy going again. You you're ultimately the salesperson for this country. We want to make this country a great thriving economy once again. You know, I want to open it up. I want to bring back all the Brits who've left. I want to bring back all the rich and successful investors who've left the country. Uh, I want to put a big sign on this country that we are once again the thriving economy that I knew when I was growing up, but which seems like it's been completely broken in recent times. And I believe we can do that. I believe in catch-up growth. I think if you've got the right team, the determination, the plan that's needed, then you can turn this thing around and you can make this country successful once again. You can put money back into people's pockets, you can get factories open again, you can bring back good jobs, you can create a climate where setting up a small business feels like a natural thing to do, where putting in the hard work is gonna bring its natural rewards once again. We can do all of those things, but is it gonna happen under the Labour Party? No, absolutely not. Is it gonna happen under the Tory Party even if they manage to miraculously get into government? No, I don't believe that for one minute. So it's only gonna happen with reform, and my message to people is hang in there. It's gonna be tough, but change is coming. Britain is broken, our economy is broken, but it can be fixed.

SPEAKER_05 21:33

One, two, three, four, five. Britain is broken.

SPEAKER_08 21:36

But our final day of filming was with reform leader, a newly re-elected MP for Clacton, Nigel Farage, at his constituency office.

SPEAKER_05 21:45

We're doing this really cold, but it might just work. I hate things that are that are over prepared. So that food. Often the best things are home, you sort of just chuck together's good. I like what the French call food paison. That's why I love Marco Pierre. White. If I go have dinner with him, Lunch with him on the way down to the West Country. Marco does things very simply but perfectly. And it's got to be the best of everything. The peas are got to be fresh, not frozen. I mean, everything's got to be the best of everything. But it's all done beautifully simply. And Marco, of course, Marco was the first ever two-star literally chef in Britain. Yeah. And he gave it up. He gave it up. He literally gave the stars back. He's a fabulous character.

SPEAKER_08 22:24

Nigel's promise was a little bit different from the others. This was the next Prime Minister making clear to his future cabinet secretaries what would happen if they failed to deliver.

SPEAKER_05 22:34

Our leading figures have all made pledges of what they will do in the first hundred days of a reform government. And my job on your behalf when we win that next election will be to hold them to account. And if they fail in the first 100 days, they will be sacked. Yes, think about it. Accountable politics. No more excuses, no more, we're making progress. No, they will lose their jobs and get replaced by somebody else with more courage. I'm sick of failure, you're sick of failure, we're sick of a country forever in decline. I promise you, in the first 100 days of a reform government, everything will change.

SPEAKER_08 23:18

It's a big pledge, Dell. How do you feel about these pledges?

SPEAKER_05 23:22

Well, look, we've said we can't fix Britain in 100 days, but we can turn the direction around in 100 days. And the contrast to Andy Burnham's 10 years couldn't be clearer, couldn't be better. And yeah, we want accountability. As it is now, ministers fail and get promoted. People fail upwards. And I think everyone's absolutely cheesed off with that. So it is a big promise. I'm not pretending it isn't. It is a big pledge. But I think it's something people want to hear.

SPEAKER_07 23:54

Totally agree. I think the public's gonna love it.

SPEAKER_05 23:57

I do. I do. I think it's a very, it's very bold. It'll be met with huge scepticism. And of course, we'll be told the House of Lords will oppose and but. But if we're absolutely clear, if we're absolutely clear with the country what the premises or premises are upon which we're being elected, well, frankly, if the civil service or the house of lords tried to stop us, uh I mean these would be anti-constitutional acts of the most extraordinary nature. Um and if that was to happen, we'd just sack a lot of people. Including telling the House of Lords, why don't we have a referendum on your future? I think that might just concentrate their minds a little bit in the dining room, don't you? I think I think so. I promise you, if you had a referendum on the current makeup of the House of Lords, I made it to be 75% get rid of it. Because even if people objected to the hereditary element, now it's just a bunch of Blair and Cameron's mates. I mean it's astonishing. So look, it is a big bold pledge, but I think we're gonna have to be absolutely clear with everybody. This is what we intend to do. Um and yeah, actually, in a hundred days we can change a lot.

SPEAKER_08 25:16

A few days later, in front of a packed NEC in Birmingham, Richard Tice, Suella Braverman, and Robert Jenrick made their pledges official, promising to step down if they failed in the first 100 days.

SPEAKER_02 25:28

In the first 100 days, we will raise the tax-free personal allowance from £12,570 to £15,000.

SPEAKER_06 25:40

I will bring down the average annual household energy bill by £250.

SPEAKER_01 25:48

I will scrap the cap on homegrown British doctors. And if I fail, if I let you down, if I let Nigel down, I will take responsibility and I will resign.

SPEAKER_08 26:04

And Nigel Farage confirmed to voters everywhere that failure would not go unanswered.

SPEAKER_04 26:09

These are pledges that we must deliver in the first hundred days of government, or those individual ministers will have failed. Indeed, we as a government will have failed.

SPEAKER_08 26:18

When I asked reform supporters what they thought of the pledges, they didn't hold back.

SPEAKER_01 26:27

Fantastic, because you've got to work to a target.

SPEAKER_08 26:30

That is a very good and encouraging philosophy from the leader.

SPEAKER_01 26:34

I can hardly hope enough. I feel quite emotional actually about it. I personally think that's actually fantastic because I think that's what's missing in politics is people being accountable.

SPEAKER_02 26:44

I think it's great. I think reform are the only party that's ever put a level of jeopardy upon their promises to the general public.

SPEAKER_00 26:50

I think that's pretty fair. I mean, Richard Tyson made a commitment and he's put his money where his mouth is.

SPEAKER_08 27:21

We'll be back again on Monday. Goodbye.