History
Founding
The party was first registered on 13 March 2019 by Jeremy Hosking as Brexit Express. [8] [9]
In September 2020, Fox attracted funding for a new political party, provisionally called Reclaim, [10] [11] and dubbed "UKIP for culture". [12] [10] In October 2020, the party changed its leader from Jeremy Hosking to Laurence Fox. [13] It emerged in the same month that the party name had yet to be successfully registered with the Electoral Commission as there was a naming conflict with the "Reclaim Project" of Manchester, an established charity giving opportunities to working-class children. [14] In February 2021, the party changed its registered name from Brexit Express to the Reclaim Party. [15] [16]
In December 2021, newspapers reported that Hosking would continue to fund the Reclaim Party. [17]
Parliamentary representation
MP Andrew Bridgen was expelled from the Conservative Party in January 2023 for tweeting "As one consultant cardiologist said to me, [the COVID-19 vaccines are] the biggest crime against humanity since the Holocaust", [18] repeating COVID conspiracy claims and for breaching lobbying rules. [19] In May 2023, he joined Reclaim, becoming the party's first MP. [20] He resigned from the party in December 2023. [21]
On 12 June 2023, Reform UK and the Reclaim Party announced a mutual co-operation agreement for the upcoming by-elections, whereby Reform UK would stand in Mid Bedfordshire and Reclaim would stand in Uxbridge and South Ruislip. [22] Both parties lost all by-elections and lost their deposits, with Dave Kent (Reform) getting the highest support at 3.7% in Selby and Ainsty.
Electoral record
2021 London mayoral election
In March 2021, Fox announced he would stand in the London mayoral elections, in order to "fight against extreme political correctness" and to "end the Met's obsession with diversity and inclusivity". [24] [25] His candidacy was endorsed by Reform UK, who stood aside for him in the election, and by Nigel Farage. [26] The major source of Fox's campaign funds was Brexit backer Jeremy Hosking, [27] who, in the first quarter of 2021, gave the Reclaim Party more than £1,000,000 in cash and services. [28]
In the mayoral election, Fox finished in sixth place with 47,634 votes (1.9 per cent), losing his £10,000 election deposit. [29] [30]
2024 general election
In the 2024 general election, Reclaim announced it would donate £5,000 to each candidate standing for re-election from other parties who agreed to a four-point culture-based pledge: leaving the European Court of Human Rights, repealing the Human Rights Act, banning all forms of gender reassignment for children and reforming the Equality Act to eliminate prohibition of sex- and race-based discrimination. Despite Conservative Party advice not to accept the money, four of its MPs did. [41] [42] Prior to the election, Reclaim had stated it would field its own candidates. [43]
A few days before the election, Reclaim endorsed Reform UK. [44]
The four Conservative MPs, Andrea Jenkyns, Brendan Clarke-Smith, Marco Longhi and Karl McCartney, who had accepted the donation in exchange for backing Reclaim’s "four-point commitment to culture", all lost their seats.
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