Speaking to Nigel Farage after his show-stopping speech yesterday afternoon, I asked the Reform leader whether the party conference was more party, or more conference.
I asked because the organisers had been at pains in the lead-up to the big day to emphasise that the coming jamboree would be – unlike other po-faced puritanical parties – fun.
Booze was already being sold to punters by the time I arrived at 10am, with warnings that they would not sell more than four drinks to anyone per visit to the bar (doubles counted as two drinks).
There were even “beer lanyards”, promoted as a way to “say goodbye to juggling your pint and hello to hands-free!”.
So come the end of the work day, as members returned to their hotels to get changed (we were instructed to ‘dress to impress’), the anticipation of what the evening would bring was real.
The evening was already in full flow when I arrived, the first thing jumping out to me being party-goers holding enormous double-pints large enough to drown a hedgehog being sold for £17 a pop.
The main auditorium that just hours before had been set up to host the main stage and 4,000 seats had been transformed into a glitzy music venue, replete with ear-splitting speakers and a live band many GB Viewers may recognise.
Bell & Spurling, the musical duo behind the 2001 hit ‘Sven, Sven, Sven’ were on stage, blasting out all the hits including Come On Eileen, I’m Still Standing and Don’t Stop Me Know.
At 9.30pm the man of the moment Nigel Farage himself emerged on stage to all the general whooping and chanting that follows a party leader taking his troops into the political stratosphere.
He told the increasingly inebriated crowd: “I was asked a few months ago, ‘what should we do on the evening of the conference?’”
“Should we do what everybody else does and have a big formal sit-down dinner? I said no! We want singing, dancing, drinking, laughter, fun, and you know why?
“Because unlike the other parties we are real people!” It was a good speech, but as he departed the stage for once with Mr Farage there was a distinct air of disappointment.
‘Come on mate, you’re on stage, surrounded by musicians, don’t let us down’ the crowd seemed to think in unison.
It was at this point we all saw something we will never un-see. Namely, Nigel Farage blasting out Can’t Take My Eyes Off You by Frankie Valli.
It was frankly ridiculous, and the audience loved every second of it. I even had the chance to congratulate Nigel on his singing later in the evening, which wasn’t false praise. Apparently over 40 years of chain smoking haven’t had much of an effect on his vocal chords.
I must have also been having a great time, given one woman turned to me after a song and dealt the backhanded compliment that I should have been a singer instead of a journalist.
During Mr Farage’s performance, the enormous teal double-decker bus that had been parked in the hall throughout the day transformed into a VIP area for Reform UK’s great and good, joined by Mr Farage after his X Factor audition.
Lee Anderson, Richard Tice and others were up there, dancing and singing along with Nigel who continued to perform to the crowd below, this time to ELO’s epic Mr Blue Sky.
Popping up on the bus shortly after, I discovered boxes of wine, Grey Goose vodka, champagne and beer – they weren’t lying about having a proper party.
The evening shortly moved on to other venues, but the rest, I’m afraid, will have to remain off the record.
