Reform UK Pushed-aside candidate asks Farage for £8k back

Nigel Farage has been handed a bill for more than £8,000 that a former Reform UK candidate says he is owed for running a general election campaign in Clacton before he was elbowed aside when the party leader chose to stand.

- Ben Quinn

Tony Mack, who was to be the party's candidate in the Essex constituency until June, said Farage had assured him in a telephone call that the party would "pay back every fucking penny" and made a series of other commitments.

The psychotherapist and charity worker - who alleges he was frozen out by Reform UK and that Farage went back on a deal that they shook on - said he is speaking out because he believes the MP cannot be trusted.

He accused an "aggressive element" among some of those who supported Reform UK of creating a "fascistic" atmosphere in the constituency.

In a letter to Farage this week, he says that he is owed a bill for £8,500 that includes a website (www.reformclacton.​com) that Mack set up and which was then used by Farage for his campaign.