Nigel Farage, leader of Reform UK, suddenly announced he was standing in Clacton weeks after the election was caleldNigel Farage has allegedly been asked to pay £8,500 to the Reform candidate whom he ousted from Clacton.
The Guardian reported on Thursday that Tony Mack, who was the Reform representative for the Clacton seat from last October until June, believes he is owed the costs of running his campaign before Farage kicked him out.
Farage even ended up using the website, reformclacton.com, Mack alleged created for the election.
Mack claims the Reform leader told him over the phone that the party would “pay back every fucking penny” and even promised him a job with the politician’s Clacton team after the election.
This week, he allegedly wrote to Farage to ask for his money back, formally asking the newly-elected MP to honour the pledges he made over the phone on June 3, and reimburse him £8,500.
Until he ran for Clacton, Farage, the founder of Reform, was the chair of the populist party.
He repeatedly denied he had any plans to stand for parliament after his seven previous attempts.
He made a sudden U-turn two weeks after Rishi Sunak called the election and a month before the public went to the polls.
On June 4, he announced his plans to stand for Clacton and said he would now be Reform’s new leader.
Speaking to The Guardian, Mack said he fears for the future of Reform “when it is led by a man who cannot keep his promises”, and when it is not “democratised”.
At the moment, Reform is a registered company run by Farage, rather than members.
Reform UK has been contacted for comment.
Mack ran against Farage as an independent in Clacton, but secured just 317 votes, 0.7% of the vote share.
Farage took the seat from the Conservatives, winning 21,225 votes overall and 46.2% of the vote share.
Reform now has five MPs in parliament.
