For much of the time since Nigel Farage resumed(重新担任，恢复) the Reform UK leadership two long years ago, his party has been an island of relative stability(相对稳定的孤岛) in the increasingly rough sea of British politics. While other parties plunged queasily(令人恶心地，令人不安地) in the polls, messily purged(清洗，清除) dissidents, argued publicly about their direction and changed leaders, Farage dominated Reform UK and gave impregnably(无懈可击地，坚不可摧地) self-assured interviews. The party’s popularity moved steadily upwards, comfortably above(轻松领先于) that of all the others.
自奈杰尔·法拉奇两年前重新执掌英国改革党以来，在大部分时间里，该党一直是英国政坛这片日益汹涌的大海中一座相对稳定的孤岛。当其他政党在民调中令人作呕地暴跌、乱糟糟地清洗异己、公开争论路线并更换领袖时，法拉奇牢牢掌控着改革党，接受采访时自信得无懈可击。该党的支持率稳步上升，轻松领先于所有其他政党。
It is a paradox that a new party with wildly expectant members, not many experienced politicians and few properly worked-out policies became the pole around which the country’s political debate revolved, and yet this seemed to do no harm to Reform’s chances of winning the next general election.(一个矛盾的现象是：一个成员期望极高、经验丰富的政客不多、成熟政策寥寥的新党，竟成了全国政治辩论围绕旋转的极点，而这似乎丝毫没有损害改革党赢得下届大选的机会。) As with rising rightwing populist(民粹主义的) parties across the world, Reform’s tendency to make it up as it went along(走一步编一步，临时应付) appeared to be not a weakness but, for many voters, much of its appeal.
一个矛盾的现象是：一个成员期望极高、经验丰富的政客不多、成熟政策寥寥的新党，竟成了全国政治辩论围绕旋转的极点，而这似乎丝毫没有损害改革党赢得下届大选的机会。正如世界各地正在崛起的右翼民粹政党一样，改革党那种走一步编一步的作风，在许多选民看来非但不是弱点，反而是它吸引人的地方。
That seems less the case(情况不再如此) now. Amid multiple, worsening funding scandals(丑闻), and with the party openly divided about how to respond to them, this year Reform has lost about a quarter of its support and its poll lead over Labour. There are internal mutterings(私下抱怨，嘀咕) about the attention-seeking(爱出风头的，博眼球的) and leadership ambitions of its home affairs spokesperson, the relentlessly abrasive(粗鲁的，尖刻的) Zia Yusuf, and its Treasury spokesperson, the slippery(圆滑的，不可靠的) former Tory Robert Jenrick.
如今情况似乎已大不相同。在多重且不断恶化的资金丑闻中，加上党内对如何应对这些丑闻公开分裂，改革党今年已流失约四分之一的支持率，以及对工党的民调领先优势。党内有人私下抱怨内政事务发言人、一贯尖刻好斗的齐亚·优素福，以及财政事务发言人、圆滑的前保守党人罗伯特·詹里克，说他们爱出风头、觊觎党魁之位。