The email landed on April 1st. Unfortunately for London-based French journalist Cécile Ducourtieux, it was no joke.
“Dear Cécile. On behalf of the party, we would like to thank you for putting yourself forward as a candidate for Reform UK.”
So began a frantic attempt by Ducourtieux, who writes for left-leaning daily Le Monde, to stop Nigel Farage’s insurgent right-wing party from mistakenly registering her as a candidate in this week’s English local elections.
She says the saga started in late March, when an official from Reform randomly called to ask if she would stand in London as a “paper candidate” – named on the ballot paper, but in an area where the party would do little campaigning and didn’t expect to win.
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The deadline to register candidates was April 9th. Farage had previously spoken publicly about the challenge of finding up to 5,000 candidates for local elections in much of England and devolved parliamentary votes in Wales and Scotland the same day.
The Reform caller asked Ducourtieux if she had a criminal record or if she had ever been made bankrupt. She says she spoke to him out of curiosity for a few minutes, but at no stage did she say anything that might give the impression she would run for Reform.
“I thought I had made myself clear and the matter was closed,” she says.
A couple of days later, the email arrived.
“It was April 1st and I found it funny at first. But it was actually very serious. I panicked. I really did not want anything to do with Reform,” says Ducourtieux.
The subject heading of the message, seen by The Irish Times, said “application received”. It was sent to Ducourtieux’s Le Monde work email address.
“Thank you very much for putting yourself forward,” it said.
Reform said Ducourtieux’s local branch – she lives in Kilburn in northwest London, in the area of Camden borough council – would be in touch. The email came from a “no reply” Reform address.
Ducourtieux called back the official who had rung her days earlier. She got no answer and left a voicemail. She says she contacted the party’s press office, and also the team of a Reform UK London Assembly member that she knew through her work as a journalist.
“Please excuse my colleagues. I notified them of the error. It will be rectified,” the staffer assured Ducourtieux.
A week later, she received another call from a Reform official, a woman this time, who pressed her to be a paper candidate to help stymie votes in the capital for the Green Party, which is expected to do well in the city in this week’s local elections.
Ducourtieux says she told the woman clearly that she was not a Reform supporter and would not be a candidate. Five hours later, the same woman called her back to try again to convince to run. All she needed to do was sign the candidate papers.
“She was obviously under big pressure,” says Ducourtieux. Eventually, she says the woman accepted her decision.
“I took that as the end of the story. I guess we will see when the results come in on Friday,” joked Ducourtieux.
There are 14 candidates listed on the ballot in the Kilburn ward. Two, Mac Henry Harwood and Andrew John Preston, are down for Reform UK. Fortunately for Ducourtieux, it appears she is not on the ballot.
Last month, the Guardian newspaper said one of its journalists had also been cold-called and asked to run as a paper candidate for Reform. It quoted Farage as denying that any non-members had been asked to run.
The party has been contacted by The Irish Times for a response.
