Motherland: how Reform is winning over women

Coffee House Shots

The Spectator

News, Politics, Government, Daily News

4.4 • 2.1K Ratings

🗓️ 9 August 2025

⏱️ 17 minutes

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Summary

Does – or did – Nigel Farage have a woman problem? ‘Around me there’s always been a perception of a laddish culture,’ he tells political editor Tim Shipman, for the cover piece of the Spectator this week. In last year’s election, 58 per cent of Reform voters were men. But, Shipman argues, ‘that has begun to change’. According to More in Common, Reform has gained 14% among women, while Labour has lost 12%. ‘Women are ‘more likely than men… to worry that the country is broken.’

Many of Reform’s most recent victories have been by women: Andrea Jenkyns in the mayoral elections, Sarah Pochin to Parliament; plus, their most recent high profile defections include a former Tory Welsh Assembly member and a former Labour London councillor. What makes Reform’s success with women all the more remarkable is that it appears organic; ‘we haven’t forced this’ says Farage. So why are women turning to Reform UK?

Tim Shipman and Sarah Pochin MP join William Moore and Lara Prendergast, the Spectator's features and executive editors respectively, to discuss further, with an introduction from Oscar Edmondson. For more discussions related to articles in the Spectator, search The Edition wherever you listen to your podcasts.

Produced by Patrick Gibbons and Oscar Edmondson.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to this Saturday edition of Coffee House Shots. I'm Oskredvinson,
0:09.8	and we have a very special episode for you today. It's a discussion between our political
0:13.7	editor, Tim Shipman, and Reform MP, Sarah Porchin, about Tim's cover piece for the magazine this
0:18.9	week, in which he argues that Nigel Farage
0:21.0	has not just solved reform's women problem, but that support for reform amongst particularly
0:26.0	middle-aged women is growing at a huge rate. In fact, they've gained 14 percentage points with
0:31.6	women since the general election. Now, this discussion is taken from another of our podcast called
0:36.5	The Edition, that's hosted by
0:38.2	William Moore and Lara Prendergast, in which they discuss some of the magazine's best features
0:42.2	from the week with the authors and a guest. Now, if you like what you hear, search the edition
0:47.2	wherever you get your podcasts, and I hope you enjoy the discussion.
0:51.2	Tim, you start your excellent cover piece this week by writing about this idea of a ladish
0:56.9	culture that Farage is often associated with. Firstly, do you think that's, is that a fair
1:02.9	perception of Farage in his political career? I think it's one that the man himself accepts.
1:08.6	I mean, he joked with me that when he was accosted
1:11.9	during the local election campaign, somewhere in the Midlands, some cheeky journalist said,
1:17.1	you know, Nigel do you have a woman problem? And after two marriages, four kids, he said,
1:22.3	God yes, I've had 40 years of it. And he admits that, you know, UKIP was the rugby club on tour.
1:28.5	You know, however did we get this blocish image, I'll never know, you know, as he lifts
1:32.9	another pint and smokes another cigar.
1:34.8	So, you know, of course he acknowledges that.
1:37.6	But I think this, what's going on now is very interesting that women voters are flocking
	...

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