An axed Brexit Party candidate who offered to run in an East of England constituency during last year’s general election has won an expense claim against his former party in court.
Paul Bullen, a retired RAF officer and former UKIP council leader, won £575.15 in costs from Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party after it failed to repay his for election campaign expenses during the 2019 general election.
Bullen, alongside more than 300 other candidates, were axed from running in Tory-held seats after fears it would split the vote and lead to a Labour government being elected and a possible second Brexit referendum.
Farage promised to repay dumped candidates’ costs but when that did not happen, Bullen took the Brexit Party to court.
His case was suspended in Peterborough court and his expenses immediately awarded. The Brexit Party did not contest the court case, which took place virtually, and now has a judgement against it.
Bullen told local paper Hunts Post that he lodged proceedings out of ‘principle’. ‘I don’t feel victorious about it,’ he said. ‘I feel ambivalent really because I didn’t want it to come to this.’
‘Some time ago they refused to pay my expenses so I had no alternative to do what I did,’ he added.
It is understood the Brexit Party had asked potential candidates to cough up £100 in their application to run. It is claimed they received more than 3,000 submissions in total.
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