The crowd seemed to be having fun, even though it is plain some of those gathered there have been drawn in because they are deeply disgruntled with the status quo in the UK. A newly joined party member said he was there because Farage "is a breath of fresh air" and current politicians were failing to give younger generations a chance to get on.

Tommy Robinson is “not what we need”, Nigel Farage has said, after Elon Musk expressed support for the jailed political activist. The Reform UK leader described Mr Musk as a “hero figure, especially for the youth”, ahead of his party’s East Midlands Conference in Leicester on Friday evening.

Watch the moment Nigel Farage's speech is halted as he's informed Reform has now reached 170,000 members.The Reform leader is handed a mobile phone displaying a live ticker of Reform members which reaches the hefty total while he's speaking in Chelmsford,

Nigel Farage claims Reform UK has signed on additional 35K members as of Boxing Day. The Reform UK leader touted his teams dedication as they worked through Christmas day evening to count new memberships.