Charlotte Pickles, director of the think tank formerly known as Reform, had been considering a name change for some time. However, the urgency increased after Nigel Farage returned as leader of Reform UK last year and the party experienced a surge in electoral success, accelerating plans to rebrand.
“As a strictly cross-party, independent, charitable think tank, we can’t risk being mistaken for a political party — especially now that there is one called Reform UK,” Pickles told POLITICO.
Though the think tank is well-recognized within Westminster political circles, its old name often led to confusion among the wider public. “We’ve received emails from people wanting to speak to Nigel Farage,” Pickles noted, adding that letters and even donation checks meant for the political party had mistakenly been sent to their offices. Those funds, she said, were destroyed.
Now rebranded as Re:State, the organization is using its fresh identity as an opportunity to refocus public attention on its core mission: driving reform of the British government machinery.
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