Nigel Farage ended Reform UK’s two-day conference by bringing fellow elected party politicians onstage to sing the national anthem.

He handed the microphone to Greater Lincolnshire mayor Dame Andrea Jenkyns to sing.

It was not the first vocal performance of the conference for Dame Andrea, who opened her own speech yesterday by singing a self-penned song called Insomniac.

Nigel Farage has urged Reform UK members to keep their disputes private as he closed the party’s annual conference.

He said: “Can we please exercise discipline and air our disagreements between each other in private?”

In his closing speech, Reform leader Nigel Farage brought MP Lee Anderson to the stage and announced that he would be the party’s welfare spokesman.

In his speech to the Reform UK conference, Reform deputy leader Richard Tice said: “There’s a jab flying around, a jab that sort of helps reduce the size of our waste.

“So, I thought, ‘well, maybe should we apply a bit of the old Wegovy to slim down the civil service, a touch of the old Mounjaro to reduce the size of the quangos and … last but not least, a bit of the Ozempic to reduce the bloated welfare state’.”

Deputy leader of Reform UK Richard Tice said Lucy Connolly has a “huge opportunity to help” the party.

Delivering his speech at the party’s conference after Connolly gave an interview on stage, Mr Tice said: “It’s wonderful to see her back with us and to hear her direct telling her story.

“I think that she has a huge opportunity to help Reform and help the cause of free speech.”

Lucy Connolly said she may want to work with Reform UK in the future.

Asked what she wanted to do going forward, she said: “I’d really love to use my experience to work with, hopefully, Reform.”

She also said she voted for Nigel Farage’s party at the last election.

Lucy Connolly said that “never in a million years did I ever think I was going to end up in prison”.

She added: “However, I learnt a lot in there and things that you’d never see in any other walk of life, and I really hope that I can change some things having come from there.

“Because it really is such a broken system, the whole system just needs completely reforming.”

Lucy Connolly was given a standing ovation as she took to the stage at Reform’s conference.

She is taking part in a special live recording of The Telegraph’s Planet Normal podcast with Allison Pearson and Liam Halligan.

Reform UK would clamp down on “woke policing”, MP Sarah Pochin has said.

Speaking to the party’s conference in Birmingham, the Runcorn and Helsby MP said: “We have had enough of woke policing.

“Police appearing to sympathise with protest groups that simply do not reflect the views of the majority of the British people.

“I am sure that the police themselves would like nothing more than to get back to tackling crime, policing with impartiality and to protecting the British people.

“A Reform government will address these issues and restore a strong police presence on our streets.”

In her speech, Reform MP Sarah Pochin said: “Unlike this government and the last, when we are in government we will put the interests of the British people ahead of foreign nationals and spend your hard-earned taxpayers’ money accordingly.

“Our new deportation plan is entirely proportionate to the national emergency we face. We are being invaded and the British people have had enough.

“Only Reform has the stomach to take radical, uncompromising action because we care about what is happening to our country and our culture.

“We care about parents just trying to do the best for their children. And we care about those children – their safety, their education and their welfare.”

Nigel Farage has rowed back on his promise to stop small boat crossings within two weeks of taking office.

The Reform UK leader told an audience at the NEC in Birmingham yesterday it would take a fortnight of him entering Downing Street to halt arrivals.

But he said today that it would be two weeks after new legislation was passed.

He told the BBC: “As soon as the law is in place. As soon as you have the ability to detain and deport, you’ll stop it in two weeks.”

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, deputy leader Richard Tice, head of policy Zia Yusuf, chairman David Bull, the party’s MPs and other elected politicians posed with their football shirts in the conference hall.

Nigel Farage has confirmed he would send women who cross the Channel on small boats back to Afghanistan.

Clarifying his party’s policy on mass deportations, the Reform leader told Sky News: “For clarity, those that cross the English Channel will be detained and deported, men and women. Children, we’ll have to think about.”

Jacob Rees-Mogg said his daughter has joined Reform “but I’m not going to”.

The former Tory MP said he was “having his arm twisted” by his daughter, who he was “embarrassed” to say had joined Nigel Farage’s insurgent party.

Mr Rees-Mogg said: “Mary has joined Reform … but I’m not going to.

“I’m going to remain a Tory because I think it is fundamental that we bring the family of the right together.”

Speaking at an event at the Reform conference alongside historian David Starkey, he said the “family of the right” needed to unite in a first-past-the-post system to win a majority.

Nigel Farage signed Reform football shirts for conference goers at the merchandise stand in the conference hall.

Members at Reform UK’s conference have passed a motion that calls for the party’s immigration policy to be widened so asylum approvals made by previous Labour and Conservative governments would be re-examined.

Lancashire county council deputy leader councillor Simon Evans proposed the motion, which would see a review of immigration decisions on potential illegal migrants, where the police national computer and counter terror checks were bypassed.

He told the party’s conference in Birmingham that it could see Britain “saved”. It was passed unanimously by activists at the NEC.

Other motions were carried, including one that would see the party call for the repeal of the 2008 Climate Change Act.

The motion put forward by Doncaster councillor Rachel Reed said current legislation meant costs for billpayers which were “daylight robbery”.

The party also passed a motion by a similar margin on gender ideology and protecting single-sex spaces. It would call for the removal of “gender ideology from public organisations”.

Nottinghamshire county councillor Kelvin Wright, an NHS critical care consultant for 25 years, said it was “not acceptable for any institution to subvert these spaces”.

All three motions faced criticism from members for not being hardline enough.

The motions will be discussed by the party’s board in the next three months, Reform UK chairman Dr David Bull said.

Nigel Farage has said he brought his speech forward yesterday because there was a “gap in the market”.

He tells GB News: “Well there was a gap in the market wasn’t there? You know the deputy prime minister had gone, there was a reshuffle coming.

“It was pretty clear that the Prime Minister didn’t know what that reshuffle was. So yes I did move it forward a few hours. I think it was the right thing to do, and I predicted on the stage at one o clock yesterday that the real battle here is going to be the election for the deputy leader of the Labour Party.

“And that is when you are going to see the real battle between the centrist labour party and the increasingly strong voice of the left. They are going to be very very split over this.”

Nigel Farage has said he should have “rephrased it” when he claimed he had bought a house in Clacton before the election.

The Reform UK leader is facing allegations that his constituency home was purchased in the name of his partner, allowing him to avoid paying the higher rate of stamp duty.

He told Sky News: “I should have said ‘we’. All right? My partner bought it, so what?”

He said it was “her money” and “her asset”.

“I own none of it. But I just happen to spend some time there.”

He added: “I should have rephrased it. I didn’t want … to put her in the public domain.”

Reform members attending the Party’s Birmingham conference have been able to buy teal-coloured football shirts with the number 10 and “Farage” on the back.

The Party’s leader will sign some of the merchandise for supporters soon.

Lucy Connolly is confirmed to be speaking at Reform’s conference this afternoon.

The Express was first to report rumours she would be attending the conference on Thursday evening.

Nigel Farage testified about her incarceration at a Washington DC Senate committee hearing earlier this week, where he warned Britain is becoming “North Korea”

Jacob Rees-Mogg has arrived at the Reform Party conference.

He’s doing a panel event at 1pm, but rumours abound that he will follow Nadine Dorries and defect to the party.

His former parliamentary seat is up for a by-election in the coming months – one to watch out for.

Mr Farage announced the party, if elected, would stop the small boats crisis in a fortnight. He also announced pledges to cut the welfare bill, prosecute more shoplifters, and overturn Labour’s taxes on non-doms.

He told activists Zia Yusuf had been appointed as the party’s new head of policy. He also said a department would be established to ensure Reform would be ready to enter Government, if it won an election.

The conference had earlier been told by party chairman Dr David Bull that membership had risen above 240,000.

He later said: “All I can do is to promise you, that I will give this everything. I will give this absolutely everything. No-one cares more about the state of this country than I do.

“I am determined to do something about it. I came back last year out of retirement to try and lead a movement that would get our country back.

“I think we’re on track. I think we’re on our way. I’m proud to lead this party, I’m proud of you, the amazing contribution you’ve made to our success over the next year. But I tell you what, folks, that was just the beginning.”

Businesses also seemed to be warming to Reform. Heathrow Airport hosted a business lounge, First buses provided coaches to host meeting rooms, and “digital gold” firm TallyMoney was among those to have a stand.

The event was opened by party chairman, former daytime TV presenter, Dr David Bull, who told attendees Ms Rayner had resigned, which was met with loud cheers. He later said Reform had sneaked passed 240,000 members.

He was joined by another former daytime TV presenter, Jeremy Kyle, who roved around the hall speaking to members in between speeches.

Mr Farage used his moment on stage to deny the party was a “one-man band”, pointing to recent Conservative defector, former Tory culture secretary Nadine Dorries, who announced she was joining the party on Thursday night.

She told members Reform was the “party of the moment”.

Ms Dorries said: “I feel for the first time in a number of years as though I’m at a conference and amongst people who share the same principles and values as I have always held.”

Mr Farage was in a triumphant mood during his conference speech, as the party rides high in the polls. Activists could be seen buying branded football shirts and scarves with the leader’s name on the back.

He Farage said: “We’re used to hearing stories of splits in the Conservative Party. We’re about to witness a big rift in the Labour Party, too.”

He added: “Before long, there’ll be Labour MPs that reckon they’ve got a better chance on the (Mr Corbyn) sectarian ticket… they’ve got a better chance of being re-elected under that ticket, under Corbyn, than they do under Sir Keir.”

He went on: “I think there is every chance now of a general election happening in 2027 and we must be ready for that moment.”

It’s the second and final day of Reform UK’s conference at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham with speeches on the main stage kicking off at 11.30am.

Reform leader Nigel Farage will close the gathering at around 4pm following an address by his deputy Richard Tice.

There will also be a speech from Sarah Pochin, Reform’s MP for Runcorn and Helsby, focusing on security and justice.