Alexandra Vivona: Zahawi, Reform UK, and the art of the ‘special announcement’

Alexandra Vivona is a family lawyer based in London. She is a grassroots activist and comments on US and British politics.

Reform UK has made the “special announcement” its calling card. Their Twitter feed is a perpetual drumroll, each teaser promising to upend the political chessboard, each countdown daring Westminster to look away. In an era where attention is the rarest currency, Reform has found a way to command it.

Critics scoff. How many breathless proclamations before they sound less like Churchillian thunderbolts and more like supermarket flash sales? But that misses the point. This is politics as theatre and Reform is writing the script. Every cryptic tweet is a hook, every “big reveal” a bid to dominate the news cycle. While the old parties shuffle through dreary talking points, Reform is playing the suspense game and winning.

And this time, the announcement really was special. Not just Nigel Farage in a new tie or another bang average Tory defection, but a move calculated to jolt the establishment: Nadhim Zahawi has defected to Reform UK. A former Chancellor of the Exchequer, Zahawi brings what Reform has long craved, establishment credibility. Until now, Reform thrived on outsider energy; his leap signals insiders are willing to jump ship.

For the Conservatives, it is a symbolic wound. Disillusionment has reached the upper echelons. Zahawi also brings networks, fundraising muscle and strategic nous, reassurance for donors who dismissed Reform as a protest movement. Electorally, the implications are serious. He may not command a mass following, but his defection legitimises Reform as a destination for ambitious figures who see the Tory brand as finished. In marginal seats, that could translate into real pressure on incumbents. And in the optics game, this is a coup: a headline grabber that will dominate news cycles and overshadow any Tory reset.

Zahawi himself was unequivocal: “Britain needs Nigel Farage as Prime Minister. It’s time for another Glorious Revolution to get us back to a sovereign parliament.”

And somewhere in Westminster, one imagines Robert Jenrick staring at his phone and wishing he had got off the fence this weekend. Timing, as Reform keeps proving, is everything. If Zahawi is the first domino, Jenrick may soon find himself wondering whether dithering is a luxury politics no longer affords. The next move is his, and the clock is ticking.

Even the YouTube livestream had its own drama: the comments section was awash with impatient cries of “Reform needs to start on time, no excuses”, proving Reform’s flair for suspense extends well beyond Twitter. Perhaps the next “special announcement” will be a punctual start, though that might be too radical a reform.

The risk? When everything is billed as extraordinary, the word loses its magic. If every curtain call is a triumph, audiences eventually stop clapping. But for now, Reform seems happy to keep Westminster guessing, and that in itself is a kind of power. After all, if politics is a stage, Reform is the one party still bothering to rehearse its lines.