This UK trip was meant to be a fact-finding mission for One Nation – a studious exploration of the Populist movement thriving at the heart of Western Enlightenment.
It is a serious party-building activity done in preparation for leadership.
The Coalition used to learn from America, until they were struck down with Magaphobia. Labor travels too, except they take their lessons from communist China. Make of that what you will.
So far so good. Then UK politics went a bit … weird.
Nigel Farage has resigned triggering a by-election in the Reform stronghold of Clacton where his only opponent will be Count Binface. This is a novelty candidate created by British scriptwriter and satirist Jonathan David Harvey. The joke isn’t quite as funny if all non-Reform parties combine their protest vote and accidentally put Binface in Parliament. Humans love idiotic stuff like this. Remember Boaty McBoatface? As a species, we are problematic.
This happened because Farage has been under intense scrutiny. The media launched a relentless campaign, searching for anything to derail Reform after it became clear they had transitioned from being a protest vote to the next ruling government. Journalists have been picking loose threads, and they found one in Nigel Farage’s donations.
Pauline Hanson and Nigel Farage are booked to speak at the London CPAC (July 16-18).
What should have been a side-story over the weekend about two Populist parties meeting will now take on some extremely curious framing. It may even be that instead of One Nation learning from its UK counterparts, Reform might learn something from Australia.
Which makes sense, because Pauline Hanson has been heading a Populist movement for longer than most UK minor parties, with the exception of Ukip (of which Nigel Farage was a founding member).
The difference for Pauline is her ideological stability and branding. She has evolved, she has refined, but she has not changed.
Pauline’s political narrative is so unfailingly rigid that most voters forget about the gap in elected office (no, she has not been in power for 30 years). They know she went to jail, for example, but usually forget the re-elections, losses, and media scandals. It all blurs into one entity. Pauline Hanson is one of the strongest and most recognisable political brands in Australian history. She is one of the only politicians who does not require an election slogan beyond her own face. It is an extraordinary achievement that her rivals cannot equal.
Nigel Farage is on the list of meetings scheduled for Pauline Hanson, and the one I am most interested in. Let’s hope it still takes place.
Whether you like him or not, and despite the bizarre fall out from this week, Nigel Farage remains one of the most talented political operators alive. One Nation owes some of its electoral credibility to the success of Farage who proved that it was not only possible to exit the European Union, but also to unseat the establishment Tories. Perhaps even, scare the heck out of Labour. The way Reform has been encroaching on the working class and former unionists presents a tangible opportunity for One Nation.
Where Farage is gifted, Pauline Hanson is loved, and that hard-fought public affection is something Farage will need to muster.
One Nation isn’t the only Australian political party hunting around Westminster. Members of the Liberal and National parties have been shaking hands and rubbing shoulders at ARC and will do so again at CPAC. Rather amusingly, they are seeking to learn from the Tories, who face a similar existential threat as the Coalition. What are they doing, copying notes on how not to fight a culture war? It’s like asking the French how to … no. I’m going to behave myself and move on.
Who has Pauline met so far?
For those following the tour on X, there was a selfie with Restore’s Rupert Lowe, who is Nigel Farage’s Bond-style nemesis for many reasons that we don’t have the column space for.
Suffice to say, One Nation bridges the ideological politics of both Reform and Restore. One Nation occupies the electoral capital of Reform, is trying to run itself with the professionalism of Reform, but it incorporates aspects of Restore’s hardline views on migration and culture.
Some of One Nation’s critics say Pauline should be more like Rupert, but the two figures are overseeing a very different political landscape, with the UK struggling to deal with wave after wave of third-world illegal Islamic migration that is overwhelming every structural and cultural system. This contrasts to Albanese’s planned, deliberate, legal mass-migration agenda. Even though the results sometimes look the same.
Rupert said of Pauline, ‘We certainly share many of the same objectives.’
I love Australia – proper people with a proper country.
Good to meet with @PaulineHansonOz who is working so hard to protect that.
We certainly share many of the same objectives. pic.twitter.com/2V9NyDf8sR
— Rupert Lowe MP (@RupertLowe10) July 9, 2026
Restore is able to run a very clear deportation line because they are dealing with illegal migrants.
He mentioned on a recent Joe Rogan podcast that the first priority of Restore is to deport illegal migrants, possibly in the millions, and then turn their attention to welfare-dependent and/or those legal migrants who have not integrated successfully and operate in a parallel legal and social apparatus.
One Nation has a vastly adapted version of this related to Visa over-stayers and others who broke the conditions of stay in other ways.
Rupert is also engaged in an open hostile dialogue with some of the more extreme Islamic representatives in the country over Halal slaughter, Sharia courts, the rape gang scandal, and crime wave. Restore is framing their campaign as a clash of civilisations, cultures, and religions with Rupert being unapologetically pro-Britain (hence ‘Restore’). He is the opposing force of establishment politics. The exact opposite of the progressive politics that has governed the UK through both parties for decades.
And he really wants to get rid of the BBC, saying it is ‘dripping poison into the veins of Britain’ and that a ‘Restore Britain government will defund it on day one’.
We don’t know much about how the Rupert Lowe meeting went, but this next high-profile exchange will be televised shortly… While not a political leader, Tommy Robinson is one of the most influential political influencers in Britain. He sat down for a podcast with Pauline Hanson and took her on a tour of Luton.
A walk through Luton with @PaulineHansonOz pic.twitter.com/S8ntBnvgJf
— Tommy Robinson ?? (@TRobinsonNewEra) July 9, 2026
As Rebel News’ Avi Yemini wisely said, ‘Take care of her bro. We need our next PM back safe and sound!’
Tommy Robinson and Pauline Hanson have been talking around and about each other for years, as so often happens when similar cultural revolutions are happening in different nations.
Despite the shrieking coming from the press (who have worn-out their outrage metres on the ‘Tommy’ topic with Karl Stefanovic), this podcast between the two is set to play well, politically.
I’m on a fact finding mission here in the UK and each day I’ve lined up meetings with those who are willing to talk to me about where the UK went so wrong with its immigration.
Why? Because I see the same problems in Australia and I’ll be damned if I let our country go the same… pic.twitter.com/sArddDryVI
— Pauline Hanson ?? (@PaulineHansonOz) July 9, 2026
The little sneak preview mentioned the assassination of Charlie Kirk (which has finally had its preliminary hearing this week) and the Islamic terror attack at Bondi Beach.
No doubt this interview will be interesting. There’ll probably be some outrage points for the click-bait press to latch onto. Like Karl’s interview with Tommy, it will also likely be unremarkable. I have interviewed Tommy Robinson myself, when I used to host a show, and what strikes you is how normal he is compared to the mythological spectre fashioned by outlandish reports in the press.
Besides, there is no bigger f-you to the mainstream media and One Nation’s domestic political opponents than visiting Tommy weeks after the Karl interview which occupied the headlines.
This translates to One Nation saying: we are not afraid of the media.
How this translates in the polls is anyone’s guess.
Pauline Hanson is leading the polls as she fights mass migration in Australia and the failed status quo that delivered it.
The story is the same the world over: people want real change. pic.twitter.com/lonsV6bxqu
— Robert Jenrick (@RobertJenrick) July 9, 2026
Leading up to Pauline Hanson’s meeting with Nigel Farage, she ran into Robert Jenrick.
Jenrick is Reform’s Shadow Chancellor. He said: ‘Pauline Hanson is leading the polls as she fights mass migration in Australia and the failed status quo that delivered it. The story is the same the world over: people want real change.’
It’s quite interesting reading the comments beneath these posts. The UK is very confused about why Pauline Hanson exists at all because Tony Abbott spent years talking up the example of Australia ‘stopping the boats’. This has left the average Brit with the misconception that Australia doesn’t have a mass migration problem.
We do. It’s just that our government, both Labor and the Coalition, have taken up the role of the zodiacs and people smugglers after they realised the Treasury can turn a profit by exploiting the system. Because it happened legally, without a social licence, it has been much easier to conceal and much harder to fight.
It is a nuance Reform and Restore are struggling to impart as Australia re-enters the mass-migration conversation.
This is complicated for Reform because some of their members were responsible for overseeing the tide of illegal migration whereas Pauline Hanson is on firm, unchanging ground. She can say what she likes because it is not her fault.
The lesson she is imparting on these political figures is the benefit of ideological stability.
The lesson I thought the UK might impart on One Nation is the importance of strong teams, structural integrity, and strategic policy. Instead, it might simply be: ‘Don’t let the media herd you off a cliff…’
For the first time in ten years, Reform looks to be in a weaker position than One Nation. A sliding-doors moment. And it could end with the incomprehensible spectacle of Farage losing to a binman.
Alexandra Marshall is an independent writer. If you would like to support her work, shout her a coffee over at donor-box.
