Nigel Farage ordered to pay £10k to Brexit Party founder

Nigel Farage has been ordered to pay more than £10,000 to the original founder of the Brexit Party.

Catherine Blaiklock had brought legal proceedings after she claims she was forced out of control of the party ahead of the 2019 European elections.

The county court in Plymouth awarded judgement in default after Mr Farage failed to respond to papers sent against him. The court awarded the maximum £9,999 in compensation plus £455 costs.

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Ms Blaiklock told The Independent the papers were served to Reform’s head office in London.

However, a spokesperson at Reform said the party and Mr Farage had not been aware of the claim and not received any papers.

“Nigel Farage will be instructing his lawyers to appeal against the judgement today,” the spokesperson said on Monday.

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The Brexit Party name was initially registered by Ms Blaiklock, Ukip’s former economy spokesperson. The Independent has previously reported how, in 2018, she was persuaded to do a deal with Mr Farage to effectively allow him to take over and lead the party as a limited company in April 2019.

She claims she was promised a chance to run for parliament in Great Yarmouth in return, but the subsequent decision not to stand MPs against Tory MPs in that election meant she lost out.

She resigned as a director after Mr Farage is said to have told her in a letter, ahead of the 2019 European elections, that her right-wing social media output would prevent them from being given a bank account by Metro Bank.

She had been accused of being Islamophobic on Twitter and was at the heart of a media storm which threatened to derail the insurgent party as Westminster, as Theresa May’s government were being ripped apart by the Brexit debate.

The original trust deed for the party Blaiklock drew up in February 2019 would have given each member a share in it, but this was later abandoned.

In 2024, Rupert Lowe was chosen as the candidate for Great Yarmouth.

After the Brexit Party became the Reform Party, Mr Farage and fellow shareholder Richard Tice allowed the Brexit Party name to go in what appears to be an admin oversight. Ms Blaiklock bought it back last year.

Ms Blaiklock has previously said: “I inadvertently created a Frankenstein monster of a party.”