On Monday, Nigel Farage and Liz Truss gathered for a private meal at Mark’s Club in Mayfair, organized by a US climate-denial organization. The lunch featured red meat and no vegetable accompaniments, with steak and chips dominating the menu. Photographs from the gathering were posted and subsequently removed by Lois Perry, a former Ukip leader now serving as Europe director of the Heartland Institute.
The private meeting presents complications for Reform UK, which has publicly maintained distance from Truss despite welcoming other former Conservative politicians. When questioned by journalists, Reform’s press team responded within minutes that Truss would not be welcome in the party. Yet speculation continues about her political future, particularly given Farage’s past praise of her mini-budget as the best Conservative fiscal plan since 1986.
Approximately twenty attendees gathered for the meal, according to one participant who noted that Truss and Farage share close connections with similar social circles and Reform’s major financial supporters. The guest list included David Starkey, the historian dismissed from his publisher and university over racist comments, and Mike Graham, a broadcaster fired from TalkTV following a racism investigation. Alan Mendoza from the Henry Jackson Society and Lance Forman, a former Brexit party MEP and smoked salmon businessman who supported Truss’s Conservative leadership bid, also attended.
The Heartland Institute, which sponsored the lunch, has made extreme and factually incorrect statements on climate. The organization previously compared climate science advocates to the Unabomber, a convicted terrorist responsible for multiple deaths. Physical materials outlining the institute’s positions were distributed during the meal. One attendee reported that Farage delivered remarks endorsing the organization’s agenda, suggesting Reform’s future policies may incorporate these ideas.
Timing added another layer of intrigue to the gathering. On the same morning, Robert Jenrick had publicly criticized Truss’s mini-budget as poorly executed and suggested she should be expelled from the Conservative party. Forman recalled conversing with Truss about Jenrick’s comments and described her demeanor as cheerful and untroubled, contradicting other accounts suggesting visible irritation and later complaints about dark forces orchestrating the attack.
Labour immediately capitalized on the event, with party representatives claiming Farage aims to reassemble Johnson’s failed cabinet at Reform. They highlighted the apparent contradiction of Jenrick attacking Truss while his new party leader lunched with her at an expensive venue. Perry, though currently a peripheral figure in British politics, has worked strategically to build influence within the emerging right-wing establishment, having co-hosted events with both Truss and Farage in previous months.
