Owen,
When you are going to buy the car, you will put it under your name and will become what we call the 'registered keeper' for that vehicle. If there will be multiple drivers using a car, one of them needs to be nominated as the main driver and the others will become named drivers. Usually the main driver is the one who will be using the car most of the time and the named drivers will be driving it occasionally. When you sign up for car insurance, the main driver becomes the policyholder. What you are referring to as the 'first driver' is actually the 'main driver' and the term for the 'second driver' is 'named driver'.
New driver's car insurance has always been expensive because of their general lack of driving experience and what people used to do in the past is have a more experienced person named as the main driver on the policy and the young driver as a second/named driver. Since the main driver is supposed to be using the car more often, it presents a lesser risk to the car insurance company and they will therefore give you a cheaper quote. However this no longer applies now. This is referred to as
car insurance fronting and it is against the law to do this.
What your friend is suggesting is illegal nowadays and even if you managed to trick the insurance company in giving you cover for your vehicle, you will run the risk of having your future claims being invalidated on the basis of fronting. Therefore I will advise you not to do this.
You can be the registered owner of a vehicle and not be the main driver though as this is not a UK law requirement. Then again, some car insurance companies will frown upon you if the register keeper is not the main driver.