Richard Tice is on a mission to crack down on ‘defamatory and libellous’ slurs against his party as the election draws closer.  First, the Reform UK leader forced the BBC to issue a correction and an apology for using news agency copy that labelled Tice’s party as ‘far right’.  Now, he’s got his sights set on DMG Media — the parent group of the MailOnline, the Daily Mail and the Mail on Sunday.

After the BBC blunder, Tice warned publications that his lawyers ‘are also in touch with other news organisations who repeated the BBC line’ — including the MailOnline, which fell foul of the same mistake and is now reportedly issuing an apology to Reform UK. But DMG isn’t in the clear quite yet. The leader of the Farage-founded party has also flagged concerns about reporting by its weekly paper, the Mail on Sunday.

The paper’s star political commentator Dan Hodges ruffled feathers after he referred to Reform as ‘a party not averse to aggressive campaigning on race and migration’ in his most recent Sunday column. While the original article remains available in the ‘MailPlus’ app, Mr S notes that the online piece has since removed the reference to race.

And there is a third ongoing dispute — over a Bernie cartoon. In last Sunday’s paper, a Reform campaigner is depicted threatening a constituent at their door, saying: ‘I’m your Reform UK candidate. Vote for me or I’ll have you deported.’ Crikey. Tice has complained about the illustration but the MoS are said to be holding firm, reported to be insisting that the cartoon is in jest. But the Reform leader isn’t amused. ‘We’re not going to take this lying down,’ he fumed, adding:

The Mail are going after us because they are the last bastion defending the indefensible Tories, saying we are splitting the Tory vote. Given the trend in polling, it is clear that the Tories are the ones splitting the vote and the Mail is out of touch with the real views of its readership.

Ouch. Mr S has reached out to DMG Media for a comment but it has not yet responded. Will there be more apologies to come? Stay tuned…