Why Reform Mark Cole says he should be Harwich and North Essex MP

I interviewed Mr Cole during the General Election period, over phone.

Mr Cole, 55, has been working for the past 25 years as a driving therapist, which deals with people with high level anxiety and special educational needs.

He previously worked as a fleet manager, including working for the London Fire Service, and prior to that served for ten years with the Royal Military Police.

When asked whether he was qualified to be MP and his political experience, Mr Cole began by saying how he was only 15 years old when he joined the Conservatives and did the “whole strawberry teas and champagne stuff”.

But Mr Cole says he became disillusioned with the party when David Cameron became leader. 

He said: “I then began to realise there’s this cycle over a period of years where they tell you something you think you want to hear, then they don’t do it."

Mr Cole said that this “carousel” for years led him to join UKIP, where he stood at a local level, standing in 2015 for MP in Central Suffolk and Ipswich for UKIP and “coming third in a true-blue Tory seat”.

Mr Cole said that Boris Johnson almost led him to “hang up his gloves” but he believes there has been “slow motion car crash” in government with the kicking out of Boris.

When asked what the benefit of Brexit had been so far, Mr Cole said that the point of Brexit was “freedom for people in Westminster to come up with their own ideas”.

He added he felt betrayed after the 2019 Election when the Conservatives were “given a blank cavass to go create a masterpiece” and right now for Brexit the public have only had “preliminary sketches”.

He said the opposite of Brexit had happened with “stopping the boats” but there had been “some progress” with trade deals around the world.

Immigration - Mark Cole said immigration was overflowing like a bath with the taps needing to be turned off (Image: Newsquest)

When asked about Reform’s pledges about freezing non-essential immigration, Mr Cole said: “Simplistically, if the bath is overflowing, you need to turn the taps off."

When asked about his comments and if there are any positives to immigration in culture, Mr Cole said he “doesn’t have a problem with colour” with his late father being born in the Philippines and his wife being Filipino.

He added: “People who point fingers at me being racist, go ahead, to me it a low-grade argument”.

Mr Cole said “genuine refugees” should be allowed.

Health - Mark Cole said he admired the German health system after living there (Image: Newsquest)

When asked about why anyone should believe Reform UK’s pledge for an additional £17bn to the NHS each year, the highest of all parties, Mark Cole said “£17bn to actually rectify the NHS... that’s interesting?”.

When asked if he knows the pledges for Reform UK, Mark Cole said, “I do” and then pulled out a copy of the ‘contract’ which he keeps in his car.

Mr Cole said his wife is a nurse, who recently left the NHS as “it is just too difficult to work there”.

He said he could just “sit and read through the contract” but his own view, was every single aspect of the NHS needs reorganising.

He said he had the benefit of living in Germany where healthcare works “far more efficiently”, wanting reform instead of billions being spent "like the Conservatives".

He added: “We have a free for all of we are going to pledge this, pledge that, more money, more money, where are the efficiencies.”

Mr Cole was also told that Reform UK has pledged the most money of all parties for the NHS as well as that the party is also calling for a move to an insurance-based model.

Mr Cole would also like to see, himself, nurses who need a degree or some teaching in university have their “tuition fees scrapped".

Career - Mark Cole was also in the Royal Military Police (Image: Submitted)

Mr Cole said he met with “small business leaders” a week ago to talk about Freeport East.

Mr Cole said if elected he would have a “long hard look at Freeport East” to see what quality jobs are provided”.

When asked about Reform UK’s pledge to provide a 20 per cent tax relief for independent schools, Mr Cole said he would “love” to take his children to private school due to school stresses and the “policy is not elitist at all”.

Mr Cole also said he felt some school teaching was "quite inappropriate” and questioned about children being taught about other faiths before they near secondary school age. 

He said his five-year-old came home asking if they should pray to Allah.

He said: “I was absolutely gobsmacked."

When asked by the Gazette what was wrong about children being taught about different faiths, he said he did not know if other faith-led schools did so. 

Mr Cole said he had also withdrawn his children from PSHE lessons after they learnt anatomical words for reproductive organs. 

Mr Cole said he should be the MP for Harwich and North Essex saying he “doesn’t take no for an answer” and he will “not stop until these jobs” in Essex, and the country, are done.