Back in May, Nigel Farage’s group announced that it would be seeking applications from rank-and-file Brexiters who want to run for Parliament. The online process took just 10 minutes to complete before applicants were met with a demand for a £100 non-refundable payment.

By June, the party was claiming that 3,000 people had signed up and that 200 wannabe MPs had already been vetted. Earlier this month, Farage paraded his first 100 candidates at the NEC in Birmingham. But, of the small number identifiable, it was unlikely that any had landed the gig through the online process. All of those present were chums, associates and business acquaintances of people already in the party. Which begs the questions: how many candidates do they need? How much money has all of this generated? How thorough has the process been? And, why is that link still live?

With 100 people already selected, thousands of individuals have been left chasing just 550 places. And that’s assuming that these rank-and-file supporters are the only candidates. They’re not. We know of at least one person who has been offered a potential seat because he once “went bass fishing with Nigel” and others who are prospective parliamentary candidates (PPC) because they are mates with Brexit Party MEP Claire Fox and her friends in the Spiked network. One insider estimates that the number of applicants is now “in excess of 3,500”. That’s a lot of people – and a hefty £350,000 in the bank.

For a party so intent on shaking up politics, there certainly seems to be a lot of smoke and daggers at work. The Brexit Party tried to keep a lid on the fact that it was interviewing people at all. No signs were put up in the sites they hired. Those attending interviews were told to keep it quiet. Getting answers or responses to basic questions is an uphill struggle