Reform UK’s small business champion supports Tommy Robinson and peddles conspiracy theories

On 10 November, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage launched Small Business for Reform, an organisation within the party. 

During the launch, Farage declared that “we will look to advertise men and women who we see as British heroes because they’ve set things up and they’ve succeeded”, before trumpeting: “Our first small business entrepreneur, somebody who started very small, but went on to become very successful… is a man called Kevin Byrne. He founded something a few years ago called Checkatrade.com.”

Byrne “is going to help us make this a country for entrepreneurs, start-ups and small businesses”, Farage went on, before handing over to the Checkatrade founder, who told the audience: “I just don’t feel, or see, or sense there’s a vision for this country outside Reform.”

Reform chairman David Bull subsequently sent an email to the party’s members, explaining: “Millions of small businesses have nobody who speaks for them, and Kevin will help us become that voice.”

But Byrne is a rather interesting pick by Reform. As well as being a former businessman, he is a conspiracy theorist and fan of the anti-Muslim extremist Stephen Lennon (AKA Tommy Robinson). 

On the social media platform X, Byrne has voiced his support for Lennon, responding to posts asking “Do you think Tommy Robinson talks sense” and “Do you LIKE Tommy Robinson” in the affirmative.

In July 2024, Byrne pontificated: “If they put Tommy in jail I think they’ll [sic] be riots and fights.”

As well as using X to express his admiration for Lennon, Byrne has voiced anti-Muslim conspiracy theories on Facebook. 

“Unless our current direction changes this country will be Muslim, God help our children,” he wrote on 28 June, after sharing a video titled, “Will Islam Conquer The World?”, five days earlier. The video’s caption declared: “Europe is drowning in demographic decline, collapsing under a culture that has abandoned the family-centered values taught by the Bible. Meanwhile, Islam surges, exploiting fertility rates and immigration to replace European traditions.” 

Sharing the video, Byrne told his followers: “Watch and get scared. We’re heading for an unprecedented change. Thousands of years of culture will be wiped out. Is it stoppable?”

Byrne’s conspiracism has also been directed at “chemtrails” and 15-minute cities. The “chemtrails” conspiracy theory holds that governments are using aeroplanes to spray dangerous chemicals onto the population, while 15-minute cities are a common talking-point among fantasists who believe international organisations and/or domestic governments are trying to control every aspect of our lives.

In October 2024, he wrote that he saw “chem trail after chem trail” when he looked at the sky, adding: “Is it any wonder cancer rates are so high.” In May 2023, he asserted: “15 minute cities are now being planned in multiple countries. Seems to me this is being planned globally.”

Covid vaccines have been another target of Byrne’s ire. On Facebook, he has referred to the vaccine rollout as “the crime of the century” and pronounced: “Covid has shown most are mere sheep. Men are followed by men which are dictated by money.”

On X, he has indulged baseless pseudoscience, suggesting a link between the vaccines and cancer in a post in November 2020: “Cancer rates have gone through the roof. Caused mainly by… What you inject into your body. Everyone has more vaccines than ever before? I wouldn’t take ANY not even if you paid me.” 

In March 2024, he promoted a post on X which declared: “Hospitals murdered COVID patients. The more they killed, the more money they made.” 

With his support for Tommy Robinson, anti-Muslim prejudice, and willingness to believe wild conspiracy theories, Byrne will presumably be fitting in well at Reform.