Are the members of populist radical right parties more likely to value ‘dark triad’ leaders? A UK case study.

Reform UK, led by Nigel Farage, is a populist radical right party, which is effectively the successor to the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) and the Brexit Party. It gained 15 per cent of the vote and five MPs at the British General Election of 2024 before taking the lead in opinion polls in February 2025. It has also experienced phenomenal grassroots growth in the last year, rapidly overtaking its rival on the right, the Conservative Party, to boast over 200,000 members. This paper looks not just at who those members are but at their views on party leadership and how they compare with those of the members of legacy, more mainstream parties. Are grassroots members of populist radical right parties more inclined than their counterparts in other parties to value leaders who display the so-called ‘dark-triad’ traits – namely narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy?