Meet the seven Reform UK candidates in Doncaster who posted Hitler memes, white nationalist articles, and antisemitic conspiracy theories

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On May 1st, Reform UK aim to make serious gains in the city councillor elections in Doncaster. Nigel Farage is trying hard to convince voters that the party is now “professional” after last year’s shambolic election, when he had to remove more than 100 candidates for racism and extremism.

Zia Yusuf, the party chairman, boasted last week that “the talent pool that has availed itself to us…is incredible”.

However, a new HOPE not hate series investigating Reform candidates at the upcoming local elections raises questions about its claim to be a smooth-running political machine.

Our analysis of the group’s candidates in Doncaster reveals seven individuals — more than a tenth of the total — who’s inappropriate and offensive behaviour on social media have once again failed to be picked up by Reform’s vetting procedures

This includes Hitler memes, posting articles from the website of neo-Nazi group Patriotic Alternative, anti-muslim/anti-migrant posts, and posts in support of Tommy Robinson – who Nigel Farage has clearly stated is not welcome to join Reform UK. 

Georgie Laming, Director of Campaigns at HOPE not hate said:

“Nigel Farage claims to have embarked on a huge vetting process to ensure the best candidates in Doncaster and across the country. Yet a quick look at their social media shows Hitler memes, support for neo-Nazi group Patriotic Alternative and extreme anti-muslim posts. The people of Doncaster deserve better than these extremists.””

1) Mark Broadhurst (Hatfield) 

Broadhurst posted a photograph of Hitler alongside the caption “For fuck sake If I had chosen muslims I would have been a fucking legend [sic]”. He also posted the image above entitled “How to Make a Muslim”.

2) Steve Plater (Adwick-Le-Street and Carcroft)

A fan of Patriotic Alternative (PA), the neo-Nazi organisation, Plater has reposted six PA articles on his Facebook page. One claimed “we are now living under a multicultural and anti-White tyranny”. He has also written that Muslims “can’t wash off the smell of donkeys” and “cook over burning camel shit”.

3) Paul Cutts (Wheatley Hills & Intake)

Cutts has voiced Islamophobic conspiracy theories that the religion plans to “out Breed us, And take Over [sic]”. He has called the anti-Muslim extremist and serial criminal Stephen Lennon (AKA Tommy Robinson) “A PATRIOT”, and called on his followers to attend a demonstration in October 2024. Elsewhere he posted in favour of Andrew Tate, the misogynist influencer.

4) Isaiah-John Reasbeck (Hexthorpe & Balby North)

Reasbeck has said that Bradford is “one of the biggest shitholes in Europe” and blamed it on the Muslim population. He further said people should be “fucking terrified” of Islam.

5) Guy Aston (Wheatley Hills & Intake)

Aston has posted about the so-called “Kalergi Plan”, a conspiracy theory that claims white people are the victims of a genocidal plot. A post he liked earlier this month claimed the Rothschilds, the Warburgs, and the Baruchs — all Jewish banking families — are “responsible for funding Kalergi’s genocidal ideology”.

6) Gerald “Ged” Squire (Norton & Askern)

Last year, Squire wrote in support of Tommy Robinson no fewer than 41 times. “Release him now or you may see a different tolerant people,” he said last month. He elsewhere said that Robinson’s jail sentence (the result of a guilty plea) was “so unjust”. “They will never silence Tommy,” he said.

7) Howard Rimmer (Roman Ridge)

Rimmer is a fan of the Traditional Britain Group (TBG), a far-right organisation that advocates for “repatriation”, a euphemism for mass deportations of immigrants and citizens of foreign descent. “We are importing low IQ people and when they commit heinous crimes they are given more lenient sentences by the Judges [sic],” said one of Rimmer’s reposts of the TBG. “They come from shit countries and want everything that we have built,” said another. Rimmer has also called for a boycott of “unChristian” shops and praised both Tommy Robinson and Anne Marie Waters, an anti-Islam activist.

Notes to editors:

• Spokespeople from HOPE not hate are available on request.
• Read more about Tommy Robinson and Nigel Farage in State of HATE 2025: Family Bust-Up

Contact:  

hopenothate.org.uk | @hopenothate | [email protected] | 0207 952 1183 

HOPE not hate builds hope and counters the politics of hate through research, campaigning and community engagement. We focus on the organised far right, the communities who are susceptible to them and the issues and policies which give rise to them.