60 Reasons (and Counting) to Not Vote Reform on May 7th

When covering Reform UK closely, as HOPE not hate has done since its inception, it can be a struggle to find new formulas of words to describe problems that are endemic to the party and manifest over and over again.

Yes, we’re talking about candidate vetting, again.

Candidate scandals have plagued Nigel Farage since the days of UKIP. He has yet to get his act together. At the start of the elections campaign in January, Farage said his vetting processes had been “piss poor in the past”, but insisted “it won’t be in the future”. His home affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf boasted that Reform has “the best vetting in the country”.

These 60 terrible candidates (and counting) suggest a somewhat different picture.

Scotland

Scottish Parliament – Senga Beresford

Reform’s candidate for Galloway & West Dumfries has made a number of offensive posts, including support for Tommy Robinson and replying “Me!” to a post calling for all British Muslims to be deported.

Scottish Parliament – Malcolm Offord

Reform’s Scottish leader made a vile homophobic joke about George Michael during a Burns Night speech, later calling it “a clumsy mistake”.

Wales

Senedd – Emma Clatworthy

Reform UK Senedd candidate Emma Clatworthy called the late Queen “a fraud” who needs to be overthrown, claimed that “the government are actors”, and suggested people only took the Covid vaccine as they were “brainwashed and programmed”.

Senedd – Martin Roberts

Roberts claimed abuse in nurseries will “skyrocket” if Welsh parents are offered more hours of free childcare. He added that “mothers will wish they’d looked after their babies themselves”.

Senedd – Martin Lawrence

Lawrence stated that women should stay at home and look after their children instead of going out to work.

Senedd – Francesca O’Brien

O’Brien suggested benefit claimants needed “putting down”.

North East

Gateshead – Mike Porritt

Porritt is the man behind Carshock, a car supermarket business that went into liquidation owing an estimated £4.4m to creditors, including customers who had placed deposits on cars. Over 50 employees lost their jobs.

Gateshead – David Prior

Exposed by HOPE not hate for appearing on a leaked list of BNP affiliates, Parnell is no longer a Reform candidate.

Gateshead – Linda McFarlane

McFarlane called for Keir Starmer and David Lammy to be killed, in unequivocal terms, tagging the prime minister and deputy PM in a reply that says “YOU ALL SHOULD BE SHOT”.

North West

Trevor Jones – Bolton (Tonge with Haulgh)

The incumbent Bolton Reform councillor has posted that if you vote Labour, you “get Sharia” and shared conspiracy theorist posts about Covid, suggesting that the Omicron variant was “bollocks”.

Stockport – Peter Marsh (Edgeley)

The candidate for Edgeley ward chose as his election agent a Dave Pinfold, whose recent social media includes tweets stating that “Allah is Satan”, a call to “close all mosques” in the UK, and a post showing a picture of a masked man with a pig outside a halal butchers. Most of these posts were shared by Pinfold in the last few months. Pinfold claims he told Marsh about his “controversial posts” but was told it didn’t matter because he was not a candidate.

Oldham – Paul Taylor

“This is Great Britain not an Islamic colony for them scums,” Taylor wrote on Facebook. He also liked a comment under an ad for a Muslim candidate saying “Would never vote for anyone who isn’t British to the bone.”

Bolton – Derek Bullock

Bullock denies writing “Shoot the Pakis on the spot” on Facebook, saying the post was fake. He was nonetheless expelled from the Conservative Party in 2023. He does not deny calling the Muslim politician Sayeeda Warsi “a cuckoo in the nest”, describing the rise in British Muslim children as a “ticking clock”, referring to Muslims as “Moslems”, supporting the English Democrats, or encouraging Muslims to join ISIS to “help re-balance England’s population & make-up”.

Blackburn – John Black

Exposed by HOPE not hate for appearing on a leaked list of BNP affiliates, Black is no longer a Reform candidate.

Blackburn – Janine Crook

Crook said “Muslims are destroying Europe”, called Enoch Powell “prophetic”, welcomed the prison release of Patriotic Alternative’s Sam Melia, and called Blackburn “the biggest shithole in the UK”.

Blackburn – Andrew Mahon

Mahon is a fan of Oswald Mosley, who founded and led the British Union of Fascists from 1932 to 1940. Mahon posted on Facebook that Mosley “was right”, adding that “we need an educational correction” and “multiculturalism has failed”.

Blackburn – Tommy Temperley

Temperley is a conspiracy theorist who believes that the World Economic Forum is “orchestrating” international and domestic politics. He has criticised “the globalist traitors in Westminster” for being “obsessed with funding” Ukraine’s military as it fights Russia.

Sefton – Jay Leslie Cooper

Cooper said the Holocaust was a “hoax” and “propaganda”, saying “there wasn’t (sic) even 6 million Jews in Europe at the time”.

Sefton – Mark Ormsby

Ormsby has reposted Paul Golding, leader of Britain First, multiple times and promoted Tommy Robinson on numerous occasions.

Sefton – Nicholas Guy Robinson

Reform candidate Nicholas Robinson reposted a video that referred to Islam as “bullshit fucking crap” and “some fucking weird fucking stupid religion”, to which Robinson added the caption “To [sic] right”

Yorkshire & The Humber

Sheffield – Nathaniel Menday

Nathaniel Menday and described himself as an ethnonationalist. He also blamed Jews for antisemitism because they “overwhelmingly favour open borders”.

Wakefield – Arnold Tabor

Tabor has encouraged the military to murder migrants by attacking their boats at sea and then cover it up. He said in another comment that the UK needs to “sink the boats and show we are heartless”. He also described putting refugees in a “huge walled workhouse city” with “no pay only a roof over their head and 2 meals a day”, conditions that sound a lot like slavery.

Wakefield – Steven Lewis

Lewis is waging one-man campaign against the celebration of Christmas, Easter and New Year’s Eve, all of which he appears to believe are “demonic” and/or pagan. Referring to himself as the Lion of Judah, Lewis I will bring holy fire down on anyone who gets in my way […] I AM AN ANGEL OF THE MOST HIGH AND HE SPEAKS THROUGH ME LET GLORY BE TO GOD  AND THE HOLY SPIRIT AMEN

Wakefield – Brett Muscroft

Reform’s candidate for Castleford Central and Glasshoughton has posted that Islam is “Cancer” that must be removed and expressed support for Enoch Powell and Tommy Robinson.

Bradford – John Worsley

John Worsley has shared a comment on Facebook calling for Stephen Lennon, the serial criminal also known as Tommy Robinson, to be knighted, reposted comments in favour of “banning halal slaughter” and called for asylum seekers criminals to be deported.

Bradford – Daniel Devaney

Devaney said he wanted to “blast [Muslims] all of the face of the earth [sic]”. Writing on Facebook in September 2024, he further described Muslims as “pure scum”, adding: “We’re being invaded by potential terrorists day in day out.”

Bradford – Steve Hammond

Hammond promoted his candidacy on the same social media account that he used to contact sex workers. “Yes I would love to have some fun,” he wrote under an advert for a sex worker. He also complained about female football commentators.

Barnsley – Theresa Arnold (Cudworth)

Theresa Arnold said that she has “never supported Ukraine” and that she thinks “Putin might have got a point”

East Midlands

Coventry – Carole Brightwell

Brightwell promoted Britain First, shared a National Front video, and Islamophobic images online.

Rugby – Jamie Pullin

Pullin shared a video about white supremacy, in which an American influencer railed against “our ancestral homelands” now being “an occupied country” controlled by “foreign interests that are very clearly hostile to the native population”. He wrote: “Well, she has a point.” Pullin also said that Islam is “a belief system which encourages the murder of Kafir, Jews and homosexuals”.

West Midlands 

Sandwell – Jonathan James Fox (Bristnall)

Fox shared a meme with Enoch Powell’s infamous “Rivers of Blood” speech captioned “Enoch Powell was Right!” and another graphics saying that “People who eat bacon are less likely to blow themselves up”.

Birmingham – Kenneth Morris (Erdington) 

Kenneth Morris is the English co-ordinator for the far-right Patriots Network organisation, which is organising an event with Tommy Robinson, the far-right convicted fraudster who helped inflame the Southport riots.

Dudley – Caley Ashman

Reform’s candidate in Cradley North & Wollescote has used the phrase “goyslop” on social media, a term used to promote the theory that Jewish people use mass media to distract non-Jews. He also enquired about joining the neo-Nazi Homeland Party and shared a homophobic post about Douglas Murray that referred to him as a “snaggled toothed porridge eating semen sipper”.

Solihull – Steve Egan

The Jewish Chronicle reported that Steve Egan, a Reform candidate in Knowle ward, Solihull, posted an image on social media which depicted the the “Rothschilds” and “Zionists” as puppeteers pulling the strings of world leaders, to which he added the caption “who is pulling the main strings”.

East of England

Colchester  – Aaron Lee Taylor

Taylor was a Reform activist who campaigned for the party in Essex. We exposed his praise of Adolf Hitler and repeated posts of “HEIL HITLER”. Despite his explicit support of Nazi Germany, he was invited to volunteer at Reform’s head office, twice met Farage, and was for a time Reform’s treasurer for Harwich and North Essex. He is no longer a party member.

Norfolk – Jason Patchett

Jason Patchett, who is standing for the party in Hoveton and the chair of Reform’s North Norfolk branch, wrote on YouTube in 2022: “Constant kow-towing to the black community is not doing us any favours.”

Norfolk – Karl Catchpole

Catchpole has called Enoch Powell –  best known for his racist 1968 Rivers of Blood speech – “one of the greatest visionaries of the last 50yrs”, praised Tommy Robinson as “a caring family man”, and shared a post by the far-right influencer Carl Benjamin (aka Sargon of Akkad) which said of David Lammy: “Like some corrupt African official, he’s looting us for his own tribe, in broad daylight. It’s insane.”

Norfolk – Richard Eminson

Eminson has described Tommy Robinson – as well as Donald Trump and Lucy Connolly, who was jailed in the aftermath of the 2024 summer riots after calling for arson on asylum-seeker hotels – as “icons”, questioning why they’re called “far right extremists”.

Norfolk – Julian Kirk

Kirk shared a post by Elon Musk which read: “Free Tommy Robinson!” He also shared a social media post this March, which declared: “There is no negotiation with Islam. You either resist or submit.”

Norfolk – Mark Tucker

Tucker has voiced conspiracy theories regarding climate change and the Covid-19 pandemic on X. In addition to claiming there is an “obscene climate scam” on X, he has shared numerous posts referring to climate change in conspiratorial terms, such as one which declared: “The whole thing is a money making SCAM whilst simultaneously surrendering individual freedoms & rights at the altar of the Climate Cult.”

Norfolk – Kabeer Kher

On X, Kher pronounced that the “truth about the climate scam is emerging” and wrote: “You mean to tell me that global climate financing is a corruption scam? Well I am shocked. Truly shocked.”

Norfolk – Ben Miles

Miles appears to be a fan of the misogynist Andrew Tate, having shared his content on numerous occasions. In one post promoted by Miles, for instance, Tate asserted that he and his brother Tristan – who face serious criminal charges including human trafficking and rape in both Romania and the UK – “have always been innocent”, while in another Tate urged his followers to “RESIST THE SLAVE MIND”.

Suffolk – Holly Drafahl

Holly Drafahl drew fire for a Facebook post where she described accosting a “possibly Turkish” man for filming near a school – despite there being no children at the site at the time. She then “liked” a comment which smeared the man as a potential “paedo” on the basis of his ethnicity and religion, saying “Turkish, alarm bells. Muslim pedos”.

Essex – Jeff Bray

Jeff Bray, standing in the Tendring and Rural East division on Essex County Council, is a former UKIP candidate who once declared that “not all Muslimsn are terrerists [sic], but all terrerists are Muslim”.

London

Barnet – Leo Fruhman 

Reform’s candidate for Mill Hill ward has called for “Every Muslim out of Europe”, said he has a “problem with Muslims”, thinks Gay Pride is “disgraceful”, and said that he might defect to Restore Britain.

Redbridge – David Davies

Davies has expressed deep hostility to and made sweeping generalisations about ethnic minority Brits, saying that Black people who “bang on about slavery” should “shut the f** up”. He wrote online: “How have we allowed a small minority of racist blaqs, of mediocre intelligence and ability, subdue us so harshly that we are now frightened to speak?”

Westminster – James Bembridge

“Hate is too weak a word for what I feel towards the NHS,” Bembridge said. “I’d tear it down and salt the earth upon which it stood.” He also wrote: “Most NHS nurses look like they’re eating food banks out of business.”

Barking – Paul Hewson

Standing in Chadwell Heath, Barking, Paul Hewson is an admirer of Enoch Powell and Tommy Robinson, saying of the latter that he is “not far-right, just right”. 

Hillingdon – Howard Dini

Reform’s candidate for Ickenham and South Harefield in Hillingdon was exposed for a series of vile social media posts, including saying that he would be “celebrating when every f**king Palestinian is dead” and post declaring himself a “proud ISLAMAPHOBE [sic]”.

Croydon – David Booth

David Booth, Reform’s candidate for Kenley ward on Croydon Borough Council, once wrote an article which claimed that the Covid pandemic was a “staged event” that was designed by “powerful forces” to control the population.

Bexley – Caroline Panetta (Erith)

Caroline Panetta shared a quote that said “Islam is the religion of rape, incest and pedophilia” and replied “100%” to a suggestion by the leader of Britain First Paul Golding that Muslim prayers should be banned. 

South East

Hampshire – George Martin Parnell

Exposed by HOPE not hate for appearing on a leaked list of BNP affiliates, Parnell is no longer a Reform candidate.

Hastings – Ricky Hodges

Hodges said he would like to punch a “squirming little leftie” in the throat. He also claimed Muslims “milk our benefits system” to fund mosques and said Sadiq Khan, the Muslim mayor of London, should be “put into a coma”.

Isle of Wight – Alan Stay

Stay shared a post showing Dover being overrun by offensive caricatures of black people and joked that they steal bicycles, along with a post that used the slur “n*****r” three times and suggested it should not offend. 

Sutton – Angus Dalgleish

Dalgleish was quoted at Reform’s last conference saying that King Charles’s cancer was caused by Covid vaccines.

Adur – Kate Michaela

Reform’s candidate for St Mary’s ward on Adur District Council shared a number of offensive posts, including one which said “Every Muslim must leave the UK by 2030”. She also called the foreign secretary Yvette Cooper a “dumb bitch” for allowing Islam to “take over Britain”.

East Sussex – Peter Bucklitsch

Former UKIP candidate Peter Bucklitsch was selected to stand for Meads in East Sussex, despite the former Ukip candidate’s widely-publicised comments about the Syrian toddler Aylan Kurdi who died at sea. Bucklitsch said that Kurdi had “died because his parents were greedy for the good life in Europe” and that “queue-jumping costs”.

Basingstoke – Alan Stone

Alan Stone was selected to stand in Basingstoke despite provoking fury in 2025 after a tweet in which he appeared to concur with Andrew Tate’s statement that women bear responsibility if they are sexually assaulted; Stone said “if i left my valuables on show in my car, i wouldn’t be surprised if it enticed someone to break in”.  

South West

Plymouth – Ben Rowe

Rowe urged protesters throwing bricks at police defending a mosque to “get rid of that filthy building” during the 2024 Southport riots. He also accused “the Jews” of “creating division by forcing other races on our societies” and described immigrants to the UK “breeding like rats”.

Swindon – Terrence David Reynolds

“We Want Muslims Gone,” Reynolds wrote online. And: “Be honest.. would you back a total ban on immigration from Islamic nations in the UK. Like and share if you agree.” In an interview with the local paper, he claimed that Muslims are also trying to ban dogs and bacon from the UK. 

Swindon – Martin Costello

Martin Costello, of Badbury Park, Eldene & Liden ward in Swindon has a long career as a conspiracy theorist, pushing antisemitic and pro-Russia narratives, including claims that Ukraine is a “Cabal stronghold” and that the war started because Putin “kicked out” the Rothschild family. 

Devon – Jamie Grainger

Grainger said he would rather fight for Vladimir Putin than our elected government, wants Reform to “win power and then turn against Islam”, and said Muslims should “never be allowed near” the government.