Reform UK removes 3 applicants due to offensive responses

Reform UK has removed three of its applicants after reviews in which they made objectionable comments, a spokesperson said.

Edward Oakenfull, whose position is in the Derbyshire Dales; Robert Lomas, candidate in Barnsley North, and Leslie Lilley, incumbent in Southend East and Rochford, will nevertheless appear on the ballot paper as reform applicants because it is too late to get rid of them.

A Reform spokesman said that if any of the three were elected they could sit as sovereign MPs.

On the other hand, he said that the nation should still vote for the applicants if they need assistance to improve.

This followed premier Nigel Farage rejecting the applicants through a look at the BBC query event on Friday night when their comments were put to him.

Mr Faraz advised the programme: “I don’t want anything to do with them.”

Asked what Reform would say to voters in constituencies where candidates have been removed, the party spokesperson said it would “motivate them to vote for the party through voting for those constituencies on the ballot paper “.

That way, he said people can still vote for Reform’s “coverage platform.”

He said: “Now I’m not saying the situation is perfect, but the dimension of the reform vote ratio at the national level matters.”

Ultimatum: This story accommodates language that may offend

Mr Oakenfull posted derogatory comments on social media last year about the IQs of sub-Saharan Africans. He previously told the BBC that the comments had been taken out of context.

Mr. Lomas reportedly said that black people should “get off their passive asses” and stop behaving “like savages.” The comments were reported by the Times on 8 June, at which time Reform claimed they were “out of context stage citations” and it needed more time to respond.

Mr Lilley reportedly described people arriving on small boats as “scum” in a social media post, adding: “I expect your crowd to be robbed, overwhelmed or attacked. “

Asked about comments on a BBC Question Times Leaders SpecialMr Faraz said: “You get the pronunciation of malicious issues and flawed issues from the country at all events.”

However, he argued that this was partly the result of quickly finding candidates following the surprise announcement that a general election would be held in July.

Since the beginning of the election campaign, Reform has faced persistent questions over its selection of candidates, after several instances of objectionable social media posts emerged.

All major parties have had to abandon potential parliamentary candidates due to inappropriate comments, although this has been the case for more reformist candidates than for other parties.

The party has blamed the company it hired to conduct background checks on prospective candidates, claiming it failed to do the checks before calling the elections.

Mr Farage also faced angry questions from Question Time viewers about a recording broadcast by Channel 4 which showed Reform UK campaigner Andrew Parker using a racist term about Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

On Friday Mr Sunak said he was “furious” His daughters had to watch a Reform preacher use racist language about them.

Mr Faraz described the comments as “outrageous abuse”, but suggested the man may have been paid and claimed it was “a political setup of astonishing proportions”.

Reform UK said it had reported Channel 4 to the election watchdog, the Electoral Commission, for alleged election interference.

The party said it would also demand an investigation by media regulator Ofcom.

On Friday, Channel 4 News said it stood by its “rigorous and duly impartial journalism”, and said it had first met Mr Parker at the Reform UK party headquarters and had not paid him any money.

In a statement, Mr Parker said he wanted to “profusely apologize to Nigel Farage and the Reform Party if my non-public approach has reflected badly on them and brought them into disrepute as it was no longer my intention”.

Essex Police have said they are “urgently assessing” the comments on the program to “determine whether any serious criminal offences” are involved.

A Reform spokesperson confirmed that another man filmed in Channel 4’s undercover report, George Jones, was an actual party volunteer.

In the footage, Mr Jones, a long-time party activist who organizes events for Mr Farage, calls the Pride flag on a police car a “disgraced flag”.

He repeatedly suggests that members of the LGBT+ community are pedophiles and criticizes police attending Pride.

The spokesman said, “You can’t fire a volunteer” but Mr Jones was “not concerned with the marketing campaign”, adding: “He’s long gone.”

Asked whether Reform UK and Mr Farage would also say they wanted nothing to do with Mr Jones in light of his comments, the spokesman said there was a “balance” between Mr Jones’ case and Mr Parker’s case.

Both men were no longer part of the campaign, he said, but Mr Jones was previously known for Reform UK and his comments were “pretty much a joke”, while he had no idea who Mr Parker was and his comments were “somewhat The light was old till then.

Mr Farage had previously described Mr Jones’ comments as “vulgar, under the influence of alcohol and flawed”.