Reform UK Repays £200k to Side-Lined Leader Days After Nigel Farage Dethrones Him

A few warning lights are flashing over Reform UK’s latest accounts filed with Companies House.

The accounts show that the party is dependent on a large loan from a director.

Despite making a profit in 2023, the party – which is unusually set up as a private company with shareholders – has negative net assets. In other words, it is in debt to a tune that far exceeds its current resources. The company is therefore technically insolvent, though it is likely to survive if it can service its debt repayment terms.

This debt is owed to the party’s former leader, and now deputy leader, Richard Tice MP. 

Tice is listed, albeit not by name, as the substantial long-term creditor to the party, to the tune of £1,083,000 in 2022 and 2023. This ‘director’s loan’ is interest-free and appears to be without strings or a timeframe for repayment. Directors are allowed to lend to their own companies, but it is relatively uncommon. 

Now, there may also be tax considerations for both the company, Reform UK and Tice in terms of the loan. But the bigger potential issue is that large loans from directors raise questions of conflicts of interest. For example, if Tice were to call in his loan at short notice, or equally, to convert it into a donation – it could give him significant leverage.  

But what really stands out in the accounts is this: a repayment of £200,000 – nearly a fifth of the total loan value – was repaid to Richard Tice’s on June 10th this year.

That came exactly one week after (majority shareholder) Nigel Farage side-lined Tice as leader. 

The motives for this are unclear, but one can speculate.  Did getting back some of his cash sweeten the deal for Tice standing aside?

Perhaps, perhaps not. Tice and Farage were likely expecting to become MPs at this point. They would understand that getting several MPs and a large number of votes would entitle the party to Short money: public funding handed out to political parties to level the playing field between Government and opposition, and stop parties being 100% reliant on well-off private donors.   

Labour peer Prem Sikka, emeritus professor of accounting at the University of Essex, told Byline Times: “Reform UK is technically insolvent, and survives because it is bankrolled by loans from Richard Tice. Ironically, after the election Reform [now] receives public money to cover the amount repaid to Tice.” 

A couple of other bits are worth noting from the accounts. Despite staffing numbers increasing from eight to 12 people between the end of 2022 and the end of 2023, the party saw a significant decrease in tax and social security costs, dropping from £110,451 to £51,512. (There are a number of factors which could partly explain this, including the timing that it paid the tax inspector, HMRC, or if it received a rebate). 

In numbers: Reform UK’s 2023 Accounts

Financial Performance

• Turned a loss of £256,594 in 2022 into a profit of £26,438 in 2023
• Total income increased from £692,434 to £1,353,031
• Nearly all income came from donations (£1,345,614)

Expenditure

• Total expenditure increased from £949,028 to £1,326,815
• Significant increase in Campaign and Election costs (soaring from £635 in 2022 to £523,087 in 2023), likely covering the May local elections and anticipating the General Election
• Staff costs rose from £325,628 to £410,585
• New expense categories: Premises costs (£42,915) and Office costs (£2,771)

Balance Sheet

• Very small fixed asset base (£1 in both years)
• A long-term creditor of £1,083,000 in both years (identified as a director’s loan from Tice)
• Negative net assets, though slightly improved in 2023

Neither Richard Tice nor Nigel Farage, leader and party president respectively in 2023 received remuneration from the party for those roles, according to the filing. They are now paid MPs, of course.

Richard Tice MP, Nigel Farage MP, and Reform UK all failed to respond to requests for comment. 

You can read the party’s accounts filed with the Electoral Commission here.

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Josiah Mortimer also writes the On the Ground column, exclusive to the print edition of Byline Times.

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