Richard Tice, leader of British reformers, says: “The truth is that politics is a cutthroat business. You'll just have to deal with it' Credit: JEFF GILBERT html?direct=true&id=bc72b371-0215-4d99-b27b-4223678de837&template=articleRendererHTML' class='tmg-particle Sticky-nav wrp-bc72b371-0215-4d99-b27b-4223678de837' title='General Election' data-business-type ='editorial' loading='eager' scroll='no' Frameborder='0'allow='web-share' style='width: 100%; min-width: 100%; border: none; position: relative; display: block; padding: 0px; margin: 0 pixels;'>
It was a passing comment made by a Parisian taxi driver on a summer day in 1991, but the remark stuck with the passenger more than three decades later.
20-year-old Richard Theis was working as a businessman in the French capital when a taxi driver told him: “Companies exist.” They don't exist to make a profit, they exist to employ people.»
Reflecting on this conversation now, Mr. Theis believes it sums up «socialist thinking in the bulk of continental Europe» which he encountered during the two years he spent abroad working for a small start-up.
“Living and working in Paris has taught me a lot about how the French economy works. Attitude towards entrepreneurship and small companies. It taught me a lot about socialism.”
And for the 59-year-old, who has led the Reform UK party for three years, politics and business have never been far from each other.
>< p>Mr Tice was born in the market town of Farnham in Surrey on September 13, 1964, the third and youngest child of Joan and James Tice.
In response to criticism from a Conservative MP about «daddy's money» in March, Mr Tice said: «My father died, I miss him dearly, he didn't have much money and he didn't give me a penny.»
Joan died aged 86 after a short illness in May 2019, just as her son was quickly rising to prominence in the Brexit battles that came to define that year.
But until the European Union referendum and its aftermath, the world of Westminster could not have felt further away from a man who felt an entrepreneurial calling from an early age.
Between the ages of 13 and 18, Mr Tice was educated at Uppingham School, deep in the countryside and more than three hours away drive from his birthplace in Rutland.
In addition to the reform leader, its alumni include Sir Malcolm Campbell, Rick Stein, Stephen Fry and Jonathan Agnew.
Mr Tice became so passionate about his alma mater that he eventually sent his own children there. He was also appointed vice-chair of Uppingham's board of trustees in 2013.
His enjoyment of his school years sparked a lifelong interest in education.
«I've never forgotten the start [Uppingham] gave me in life,» he reflected in 2019. “It's an advantage that too many children are being turned away and it's a key reason why I'm trying to do my part to improve education.”< /p>
After passing my A-Levels — and failing three driving tests , and then passing for the fourth time — Mr Tice went to Salford to study at university.
He had previously described the city's situation as a «rough place» at the time, in the mid-to-late 1980s, saying that he «learned a lot from the gilded, happy southeast» of the country.
«It was a huge insight. I think we could do better.»
Mr. Theis received what he described as a «very technical» degree in surveying and construction economics.
p> “I always knew what I wanted to do work-wise,” he says. “I always wanted to get into real estate. It was steeped in family blood, so to speak.”
During his four years with commercial property and development company London and Metropolitan, his first employer after graduating, he spent two years in France and two in London .
But the calling of his family business was never far away and he left the firm to join the Sunley Group, which took its name from Tice's grandfather Bernard, in late 1991 as its joint chief executive — a significant step up. /p> 
Mr Tice, pictured with Jacob Rees-Mogg and Nigel Farage in 2018. Photo: DANIEL LIVAS/AFP
After Tice's 15-year tenure, during which the company acquired more than 100 sites and built thousands of homes in the capital and the south of England, it sold the vast majority of its properties and refunded losses to shareholders in 2006, on the eve of the recession. .
He spent the next few years “on the sidelines” as a property consultant before joining CLS Holdings, a large multinational that controlled assets worth over £1 billion, as CEO in 2010.
>< p>But by the time Theis became chief executive of Quidnet Capital four years later, Theis had begun to think more about party politics than about property prices.
“I’m known in the City, I have a track record success. But I always knew that at some point I might want to get into current affairs and/or politics because it was a particularly interesting hobby. I think the whole European problem was the trigger.”
Tice, a long-time Conservative Party donor and backer of David Davis's 2001 election campaign, tore up his membership card just over a decade after that contest in protest at defense cuts overseen by Lord Cameron during his time in Downing Street .
Ultimately, however, it was his deep-rooted Euroscepticism that led him to trade a successful business career for the rigors of frontline politics, resulting in Mr Tice co-founding Leave. The EU in 2015 with Arron Banks, a fellow businessman.
While Vote Leave was designated as the official Yes campaign ahead of the referendum, Leave. The EU's colorful promotional materials and inspiring rhetoric have given the organization a strong presence.
The «Bad Boys of Brexit»
Mr Tice and Mr Banks, as well as fellow campaigner Andy Wigmore and then Ukip leader Nigel Farage, were soon dubbed the «bad boys of Brexit».
Posts online it is suggested that Mr Banks and Mr Wigmore were not admitted along with Mr Tice. Mr Wigmore shared a recent article calling Mr Tice and his journalist girlfriend Isabelle Oakeshott a «terrible right-wing couple» and Mr Banks calling him a «serial loser», «Posh Tice» and «Wild Tice».
< p>“We turned Mr. Collegiate into the devil,” recalls one senior campaign official. «He takes himself very, very seriously, which of course has been catnip for Aaron and Andy.»
A second source who worked on the Leave campaign adds: «Mr Tice, Frankly, he was an idiot.» R. He was cocky, arrogant and very dismissive of the people around him who had a lot of experience. He didn't listen to advice, it was all about him.
“But things are different now. I have never met a man whose character and attitude improved so quickly as his importance grew.»
But despite tensions among some of the bad guys during the campaign, they were initially happy on 24 June 2016 when it emerged that the public had decided to leave the European Union.
The Tories had just replaced Lord Cameron with Theresa May , when Mr Tice left the EU three weeks after the referendum and created the Leave Means Leave program with John Longworth, who was ousted by the British Chambers of Commerce after he broke ranks to support Brexit. .
«We definitely thought the battle wasn't over,» Mr. Longworth says. “Revolutions rarely succeed while the establishment is still in power.
“I became convinced of this very quickly, and Richard asked if I was interested in creating an organization that would make Brexit happen.”
< img src="/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/37920903bf6b475094d742140ca8c7b8.jpg" />Mr Tice and his former journalist girlfriend Isabelle Oakeshott were described as a “terrible right-wing couple”. Photo: PA/ALAMYAmid talk among commentators about maintaining the single market and customs union, Leave Means Leave has positioned itself as a “campaign for a clean Brexit”. Mr Tice recalls how he was the first politician to use the phrase «no deal is better than a bad deal», which Mrs May later repeated ad nauseum in an attempt to reassure Tory MPs.
“I created the idea of “Leaving means leaving” because I saw the absurd reaction of the establishment, as well as the squeals and screams of the metropolitan elite. And I thought: This is going to be a problem.
“With the help of a few like-minded people, we raised a modest amount of money and began to operate modestly. We did a little media work, a little research…
“We were there, but in a modest way, until 2018, when after the Checkers summit it became clear that, despite all the kind words of Theresa May, there was a betrayal it was full, and Nigel [Farage] and I knew it.»
< p>Leading Conservative parties, including Boris Johnson and David Davis, quit their cabinet posts in protest at the Brexit deal May negotiated after the Checkers summit.
It is against this backdrop that leaving the EU means leaving a relatively small pressure group to become a significant force in British politics. With Mr Farage taking on the role of vice-chairman and the support of a number of Conservative Conservatives, the group was able to raise £1 million in August 2018 alone.
The relationship between Mr Tice and Mr Longworth was generally good, but the latter says his former colleague «didn't always get the political issues right.»
«He was 100 per cent committed to it — both financially and personally.” . But in a sense I was a politician, if you like, and he could be wrong. He was very interested in the Efta [European trading club] and it took me a while to explain to Richard why it wouldn't work.»
Beyond the complexities of what a good Brexit deal looked like, support for «Leave Means Leave» has grown steadily, perhaps culminating in the form of the Leave March.
Over 13 days in Spring 2019 of the year. On March 29, protesters headed from Sunderland in the north-east of England, where they are voting for Brexit, to a rally in Parliament Square addressed by Theis and Farage, as well as MPs Baroness Hoey, Mark Francois and Ian Paisley Jr.
By this point, however, both Tice and Farage were already focused on the future, with May's European elections providing a unique opportunity for their group of Eurosceptic brothers as gridlock and division continued to engulf the parliamentary Conservative Party.
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The Brexit Party, formed in late 2018 under Farage, won victory just six months after its creation, with Theis returning as one of the MEPs for East Anglia.
Mr Longworth admits he and Mr Tice «had a bit of a falling out» at this point, adding: «I was only a Brexit Party MEP because I wanted to get Brexit done.»
“My goal has always been pure in the sense that I wanted Brexit to go through properly. If you're a politician like Richard, sometimes the goal can be a little different.»
A heavy defeat by the Brexit Party and the collapse of the Conservative vote to single figures forced Mrs May to resign, and Tory campaigners pushed Boris Johnson into 10th place.
The promises made by Mr Johnson led to Mr Farage disqualifying hundreds of his candidates at the December 2019 general election, although hundreds more, including Mr Tice, who will come third in Hartlepool, contested seats that in no way threatened the prospects of a majority Tory.
The following year began with another rally in Parliament Square in support of Mr Farage and Mr Tice, but this gathering was much more celebratory in nature as they marked the end of years of disputes and the UK's departure from the EU on 31 January 2020.
«Boris got elected, had a good game and there was a moment when I thought my political career was over,» Mr Theis says. “I thought they would finally do what they promised and I could get back to business.”
However, no one could have taken into account the devastation that the Covid-19 pandemic would bring just weeks later, nor that Johnson, long praised for his libertarian credentials, would introduce a series of nationwide restrictions aimed at curbing the spread of the disease.
At this stage the Brexit Party was renamed Reform UK. Mr Farage and Mr Theis unveiled their new tool in the pages of The Telegraph, focusing on challenging the government's pandemic policies in the short term while focusing on wider institutional reforms.
“I felt that we still need to have a car there, just in case,” Mr. Theis says. “I have been very conscious of my late uncle's statements in my business life. He said: “Richard, in order to participate in the deal, you must be present.”
Richard Tice and Nigel Farage, one of the founders of the Reform Party — a rebrand of the Brexit Party. Photo: CHRIS J RATCLIFFE/GETTY
By March 2021, with Johnson's popularity restored following the end of lockdown and the success of the vaccine rollout, Mr Farage resigned and was replaced by Mr Tice.
At that time, Reform was considered a marginal group, it gained about two percentage points, and its leadership was considered by many to be a thankless task.
Mr Farage's involvement in Reform has not expanded. in addition to serving as honorary president for three years. His efforts are now focused on the award-winning late-night TV show he hosts on GB News, a new channel that has attracted a devoted center-right audience.
Mr Tice also hosts a weekly Sunday show, although he makes clear that his work with Reform, which often involves traveling around the country in a bright blue battle bus to campaign, is his priority.
Mr. Tice speaks from sunny Florida. Farage says of Tice: “He has retained a political party called Reform, which most commentators say is unnecessary. After some difficult times, he has managed to get his poll numbers up to double digits.
“He wants to change things, he's great at politics, he's very well received on television. I take my hat off to him. What he was able to achieve without much fuss, just by relentlessly continuing to move forward, is simply incredible.”
He adds: “To support reform at a time when the Conservatives were massively ahead in the polls, when everyone was saying you now have the government you need… It shows remarkable resilience. It must be said that this is Richard's defining characteristic.»
His sentiments are echoed by Anne Widdecombe, a former Conservative party member and now Reform's home affairs spokesman. Widdecombe calls Tice «a very determined man» who «shows great strength of will… He is quite different from the career politicians I have known for so long.»
The political chaos of 2022, when Tory MPs defenestrated Boris Johnson and Liz Truss in quick succession, marked a turning point for reform. She soon rose to six per cent in the polls and had nearly doubled her support by the time elections were called in May as she beat right-wing Conservatives on a wide range of issues including net zero, illegal and legal migration and tax cuts.
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In March this year, it won its first MP — something the Brexit Party has never achieved — as Lee Anderson, former deputy chairman of the Conservative Party, defected after being stripped of the Conservative Party whip.
Mr. Theis attributes his party's success to word of mouth. “We were just omnipresent. Very slowly and very gradually we went up a little. We kept working, we kept the faith.»
Referring again to his decades in business, he continues: «We are an entrepreneurial political startup, and essentially if you work hard and if you have a good product, then gradually you will have clients and customers, and rumors will spread.
“There is nothing better than a personal recommendation, and this is true in politics. “Have you heard of these people? I really like what they have to say.» This creates a feeling of dynamics. It's literally word of mouth, mass build-up.»
Judging by his remarks at reform rallies and in television interviews, Tice's hatred of the party he once supported as a donor and card-carrying member Couldn't have been clearer.
«I feel like he hates the Conservative Party and what the Tories have done and stood for,» says Mr Longworth.
“That’s definitely his driving force, his motivation. However, a great many people in the country may share that view.»
Ben Habib, Mr Tice's deputy, spoke of what both men believe is the need to «destroy the Tory party» . not least because he regrets that Mr Farage sidelined so many Brexit Party candidates only for Mr Johnson to fail to deliver the Brexit that many Eurosceptics wanted.
“Richard maintains a commitment not to suspend candidates to avoid running for the Tories. He wrote to me about it.
“He also understands that we need to move away from net zero, we cannot afford not to cut taxes… The Tories are deceiving us, Richard understands that. He knows what the mission is and the British people know what the mission is. Reform Britain is in tune with the British people.”
Others have privately questioned whether Mr Tice is motivated less by hatred of perceived Tory failures and more by personal vendetta.
There have long been rumors in Westminster that he has unsuccessfully tried to get on the shortlist in the past from the Conservatives.
One source who has worked with Theis says: “There is an element of Richard who is concerned about power. For example, he was very interested in the idea of running as a Conservative for mayor of London.”
But there is something about Mr. Tice that remains inscrutable. Even many of those who work closely with Theis on a daily basis know little about him outside of work. Mr. Habib says: “In school you had friends outside the class and friends in the class. You tend to know little about your friends in class.
“You may be perfectly friendly and like them very much, but you don't tend to find out too much about their personal lives. I don't see Richard outside the political arena and outside of Reform UK and our shared battle. I don't see him personally. So I don't really know what makes him tick, you'll have to ask Isabel [Oakeshott].
Mr. Tice attributes the Reform Party's success to word of mouth and its «constant presence»; Photo: RUSSELL SACK
Among the details known about Mr Tice's life outside politics is that he is an ardent (to which he adds the word «patient») Liverpool FC fan and his ideal holiday is a ski trip. «If he could ski and watch Liverpool in the same day, he would do it,» says a Reform source.
Scarlett Maguire, director of research firm JL Partners, notes that despite the reform's success in the polls, Mr Tice is «struggling with name recognition», especially compared to Mr Farage.
The former UKIP leader ruled out running in May. On 23 February he returned to frontline politics ahead of the general election, saying he would «do everything possible to help» reforms but would not «go beyond that», but his political stature nonetheless threatens to eclipse Mr Theis.< /p>< p>“He’s not Nigel Farage,” says Maguire. “You could potentially argue that there's more of a blank slate here, that people don't come to him with the same preconceptions as they would to Nigel, who is somewhat of a Marmite figure.
«It's like that. His name seems to have improved a bit since last year, but I'd say it's quite interesting that his name as a party is currently less well known than Reform — and obviously a lot lower than Nigel's.»
When JL Partners asked a representative sample of 2,383 UK adults to describe Mr Tice in one word, only 433 — just under one in five — gave an answer.
Among the several hundred who did had its own opinion, the Opinion about Mr. Theis was, to put it mildly, ambiguous: “racist”, “leader”, “idiot”, “unknown” and “reformist”.
He has categorically rejected suggestions that he or Reform are racist, calling them «nonsense», and earlier this year won an apology from the BBC after the national broadcaster followed another outlet in labeling his organization «far right».
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A Reform Party source is full of praise for the way Mr Theis has «grown into the role» since taking over as president. the mantle of leadership in 2021. “You'll find the campaigners are very loyal to him because he'll be traveling to Barrow-in-Furness for 20 people,” they explain.
“He'll be traveling around the country, he'll spend 10 hours traveling , even if this is not necessary, even if 20 people come… Such loyalty to activists is rewarded.”
“He's a hands-on guy who likes to get out and get his hands dirty when it comes to the nuts and bolts of the campaign. Leadership forced him to deal with people and he found that he liked them — I don't think he always did that. And they definitely like him.”
Mr. Tice says: “The truth is that politics is a cutthroat business. The point is, you'll just have to deal with it.
“I'm afraid to say that some people might call me sexist for saying this, but the truth is, if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen . There's no point in complaining about it. It is what it is.”
Perhaps it was the socialism he saw in large parts of French society that worried Theis in the early 1990s. But now he is preoccupied with destroying what he sees as a socialist, conservative government in name only — and he is clear that he will stop at nothing to achieve this.
“There's a reason why most successful people in business don't approach cutting-edge policy. That's because it's cruel on every level. It's cruel financially, it's cruel personally, it's cruel to your family. This is the reason why so few people do it.
“But the truth is, if you want a company to be run well, you need the best people running it. If you want a country to be run well, you need high-ranking people running it. It's so simple.»
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