Political callings come in many different ways.

Some people feel they are born to govern, whilst others experience a lightbulb moment which inspires them to make a difference.

For Reform UK candidate Terence Longstaff, it came in the form of someone to telling him to stop complaining about the state of the country and do something about it himself.

Mr Longstaff said: “I was in a pub beer garden in Colchester – it was probably the Castle, and I’m gobbing off.

“People express their views and people get frustrated with what’s going on in the country -people don’t feel like the parties there are worth voting for, or they're voting for one party to stop the other from getting in.

“It was almost like, stop gobbing off and do something about it – so I have.”

Reform UK’s schtick is that the mainstream political parties do not offer anything different from one another, and both Labour and the Conservatives have lost their traditional ideologies by moving to the centre ground.

Mr Longstaff, 54, places himself to the right of the political spectrum and explains his involvement is borne out of a disillusionment with the current state of UK politics.

The problem, of course, is that this is probably not a great time to be a Reform UK candidate – swathes of voters who are predicted to desert the Conservatives at next month’s election are likely to vote Labour.

Some, of course, will switch to Reform UK, though the likelihood of the party winning enough seats to influence national politics is slim.

So what has driven Mr Longstaff to take the plunge?

“I never thought I would be involved in politics,” he admitted.

“I just found myself paying taxes and not being repaid – it just seemed the government were ignoring us, and the opposition was going to be just as bad.

“It was looking like there was no way forward for the country.

“There is an awful lot of people that don’t trust those in government – there is a great deal of voter apathy, and a lot of people say they don’t vote anymore and don’t trust those in government.”

Part of Reform UK’s Catch-22 is they are likely to contribute to the defeat of the party which more closely resembles their political outlook.

But Mr Longstaff argues Reform UK offer far more than a tactical option for voters, adding the party offers people the chance to vote for something they truly believe in.

“I used to vote Conservative because I believed in the Conservatives, then I started voting Conservative because I thought Labour would do more harm than they would do good – that has had some input into why I have got into politics.

“There is only a cigarette paper’s difference between the Conservatives and Labour now.

“True Conservatives are centre right, and many people believe Reform UK have become the true Conservatives.”

When it comes to Colchester itself, Mr Longstaff – who works in Manningtree as an operation manager for a wastewater company – has connections which stretch back a long way.

He grew up in the city from the age of ten and attended Alderman Blaxill School before working on a building site at 16.

A year later, he joined the army, training as an armourer and serving for 25 until 2012, by which time he was a first officer second class sergeant major.

The future of the Middlewick firing ranges - an MoD-owned site - is therefore something which resonates with him strongly.

“When I came home as a small child to visit family, I went over the Wick with a couple of my uncles.

“I came back and said to my granddad I have been hunting tigers over the wick and everyone laughed – from that day everyone in my family has had to say there are tigers in the Wick.

“I would hate to see that turned into a concrete jungle.

“We have got a country park on one side of town and we need something else the other side of town.

“The middle of it should be rewilded – that may well save it, and it will cost a fortune to build there because of the contaminated land there from all the firing."

Not far from Colchester is where the Reform UK leader is standing, as Farage looks to become the next MP for Clacton.

His selection as the parliamentary candidate meant Tony Mack, who was expected to run initially, was shifted to one side.

The decision was, Mr Longstaff says, a well-kept secret.

“Nigel’s selection for Clacton was surprising.

“I found out the same time as the rest of the country – my friend Tony Mack was running for Clacton and had a very good campaign going and only found out half an hour before that.

“We are aware he had been considering it for quite some time but we did not know it was going to happen until it did.

“I can’t say it was a disappointment because what Nigel has done has greatly boosted the party. Membership has shot up.

“He has brought us to the forefront and people are starting to listen again.”

Should next month’s election not go Mr Longstaff’s way, the father-of-three intends to stick around.

“I have put my name out there – I am the Reform representative for Colchester.

“I will be having people contact me still and I will be going to the Town Hall and talking to them about bits and pieces.

“Whoever becomes MP they will have to get used to having a coffee with me.

“I have challenged constituents that if I am elected and they don’t feel I am doing my job as an MP then can walk up to me and prod me on the chest and say: ‘Oi, we voted for you, now get it done.'