- author, Peggy Morton
- paper, Political Correspondent
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The British Reform Party followed reports that three of its candidates had made offensive comments, a spokesman said.
Edward Oakenfull in Derbyshire Tales; Barnsley North candidate Robert Lomas and Southend East and Rochford candidate Leslie Lilley will still appear on the ballot as reform candidates because it is too late to sack them.
If any of the three are elected, they will sit as independent members of parliament, an Islah spokesman said.
He, however, said that if people want to register their support for the reform, they should vote for the candidates.
After leader Nigel Farage dismissed the candidates when he appeared on the BBC’s Questions program on Friday night, their comments were put to him.
Farage told the show: “I want nothing to do with them.”
Asked what the reform would mean to voters in districts where candidates had dropped out, a party spokesperson said it would “encourage these people to vote for the party by giving them a vote on the ballot.”
This way, he said, people could still vote for the “political plan” of reform.
He added: “I’m not saying the situation is better, but the extent of the reform role at the national level is important.”
Warning: This story contains offensive language
Oakenful posted disparaging comments about the IQ of sub-Saharan Africans on social media last year. He previously told the BBC that the statements were taken out of context.
Lomas is said to have said that black people should “get off.” [their] Stop behaving like “lazy people” and “savages”. Reform said the comments, published by The Times on June 8, were “quotes taken out of context” and that it needed more time to respond.
Lilly is said to have described the people arriving in the small boats as “scum” in a social media post, adding: “I believe your family will be robbed, assaulted or assaulted.”
However, he said this was partly due to the need to find candidates quickly following the announcement of a snap general election in July.
Since the start of the election campaign, the Islah Party has faced constant questions about its candidate selection after several examples of aggressive posts surfaced on social media.
All major parties have had to drop potential parliamentary candidates because of inappropriate comments, but more so for reformist candidates than for other parties.
The party blamed a firm it hired to conduct background checks on potential candidates.
Farage faced angry questions from the Question Time audience about a recording broadcast on Channel 4 which showed Andrew Parker, a campaigner for the UK Reform Movement, making a racist slur about Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
Farage described the comments as “a series of obscene abuse” but suggested the man may have been paid and called it a “political conspiracy of astonishing proportions”.
The UK Reform Commission said Channel 4 had lodged a complaint with the electoral watchdog, the Electoral Commission, about election interference.
The party also called for an investigation by media regulator Ofcom.
On Friday, Channel 4 News said it was maintaining its “accurate and impartial journalism”, saying it had first met Parker at UK Reform Party headquarters and had not paid him.
In a statement, Parker said: “If my personal comments reflect badly on Nigel Farage and the Reform Party and damage their reputation, I deeply apologize to them as that was not my intention.”
Essex Police said it was “urgently assessing” comments made about the scheme “to ensure there is no crime”.
A spokesman for the Reform Party confirmed that George Jones, another man who appeared in an undercover report broadcast by Channel 4, was a genuine party worker.
In the footage, Jones, a long-time party activist who organizes events for Farage, described a pride flag on a police car as a “defaced flag”.
He repeatedly suggests that members of the LGBT+ community are pedophiles and criticizes the police presence at LGBT Pride marches.
“You can’t fire a volunteer,” the spokesman said, but added that Jones was “no longer involved in the campaign,” adding, “He’s gone.”
Asked whether Reform UK and Farage would say they wanted nothing to do in light of Jones’ comments, the spokesman said there was a “difference” between Jones’ case and Parker’s.
He said the two men were no longer part of the campaign, but that Jones had previously been known to Reform UK and his views were “very facetious”, although they did not know who Parker was and his views were “unacceptable”.
Farage previously described Jones’ comments as “vulgar, saccharine and wrong”.
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