Reform UK’s former chairman has suggested Nigel Farage should “have a bit of a break” from politics, just days after the party leader gave a major interview for the first time in weeks.
Dr David Bull, who was in post until May this year, also said Reform was “way bigger than Nigel”.
Mr Farage has been accused of going to ground in recent weeks after a drop in public appearances, after it emerged he had accepted a £5m gift from a crypto-billionaire.
Appearing on Channel 5 this morning, Mr Bull said: “The party is way bigger than Nigel.
"Politics is a ruthless business, and I think also one of the other things I would say to [Farage] as a friend and a colleague is he needs to take some time out and have a bit of a break, really,” he added, in comments reported by MailOnline.
The Conservatives seized on reports of his comments to tweet: “BREAKING: The Reform Party.
“With everyone talking about @Nigel_Farage's car crash media round on his £5 million secret donation, the fallout is escalating...”
Earlier this week Mr Farage gave a TV interview in which he insisted he could spend the £5 million gift from a crypto billionaire “on cars if [he] wanted to”, as he told journalists questioning him that what he did with the money is “none of your business”.
The Commons sleaze watchdog is investigating the Reform UK leader for failing to declare the multimillion-pound donation from party donor Christopher Harborne, made weeks before Mr Farage stood in the 2024 general election.
Reform also suffered a major setback last week when it lost the Makerfield by-election to Labour’s Andy Burnham.
Dr Bull was Reform’ chairman for just under a year, before he was replaced by Lee Anderson last month.
This morning he said he had stepped down from the role as he was “physically very unwell”, adding that hat the job “nearly killed me off”.
He spoke of the difficulty of building a political party when he addressed the rise of Restore Britain, which is outflanking Reform's on the right of British politics.
Dr Bull warned: “I think we've been on such a roller coaster, and to build a political party, it's quite interesting.
“I will just mention Restore and Rupert Lowe, for example. I think what Rupert's finding is that to build a political party is incredibly difficult.”
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