Reform UK leader tells candidates not to tweet when drunk after racist posts

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The leader of Reform UK has warned his candidates not to use social media after consuming alcohol, to keep away from posting “inappropriate” feedback.

The social gathering has ditched seven candidates for the upcoming election following complaints about their social media posts.

Mr Tice mentioned each social gathering has their share of “morons” however added that he’s dedicated to kicking them out rapidly.

At a press convention in London, he mentioned: “We’re very clear to all our candidates, for heaven’s sake if you’re going to have a glass on a Friday night then don’t use social media.

“It’s not sensible, if someone lets us down hereafter, then frankly if it is inappropriate, if it is unacceptable, then we’re going to part company.

“So you can have your freedom of speech, your freedom of expression, that doesn’t mean you have the right to represent Reform UK as a parliamentary candidate, because that’s our choice.”

Campaign group Hope Not Hate discovered tweets by candidates Jonathan Kay and Mick Greenhough wherein they made derogatory feedback about Muslims and Black individuals.

Mr Kay, who was standing for election in South Ribble, tweeted in 2019 that Muslims “never coexist with others” and must be deported, and claimed Africans had IQs “among the lowest in the world”.

Mr Greenhough, who was the Reform candidate in Orpington, tweeted in 2023 that “the only solution” was to “remove the Muslims from our territory” and in 2019 mentioned Ashkenazi Jews had been a “problem” and had “caused the world massive misery”.

Hope Not Hate, which campaigns towards the far proper, mentioned the pair had been “wildly unsuitable for public office”.

Both males had been eliminated as Reform candidates, following the publication of Hope Not Hate’s findings final week.

Mr Tice mentioned “We’re not happy for candidates to hold these views, but it’s when they get expressed is obviously when you know about it.

“And that’s how we find out about it. So look, I’m being slightly cheeky in using that as an analogy but the reality is if someone holds and expresses inappropriate views we’re not going to tolerate it and we’re going to make the fastest decisions of anyone.”

The social gathering has additionally drawn criticism over a few of its different candidates, together with a convicted animal abuser and a fortune-teller who offered spells for £200 on the OnlyFans web site.

Mr Tice mentioned that any organisation of greater than 600 individuals goes to lose 1% or 2% for doing “something daft”.

He mentioned: “Every party has their share frankly of muppets and morons, you’ve seen it with the sexual weirdos going on in the Tory Party, we’ve seen it with the antisemitism in the Labour Party and George Galloway’s party.”

Mr Tice added: “The thing about vetting is it’s like an MOT actually, it’s valid the day you do it.

“But the following Friday night, someone has a glass or two too much and puts something out on social media that they then permanently regret, so in a sense it never stops.

“When someone does something that is completely wrong and inappropriate, we’re the fastest to sort it out and frankly kick them out.”

Benjamin “Beau” Dade was dropped as candidate for Swindon South following an identical investigation by Hope Not Hate; whereas Ginny Ball in Rutland and Stamford; Nick Davies in North East Bedfordshire; David Carpin in Henley and Thame; and Roger Hoe in Beverley and Holderness, have all been sacked for feedback made on social media.

During the convention, Mr Tice focused Labour in a pitch for voters within the so-called Red Wall.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer hopes to win again seats in his social gathering’s former northern heartlands, which had been misplaced to the Tories in Boris Johnson’s 2019 landslide.

But Mr Tice hopes Brexit-voting constituents may very well be persuaded to change from the Conservatives to Reform, fairly than backing Labour.

He mentioned: “We are now actually polling the highest amongst Brexiteers across the whole of the UK. We’re above the Tories in the North, equal in the Midlands, so we’re making huge strides.”

He mentioned the nation was “completely and utterly broken” after 14 years of Tory rule.

But he accused Labour of betraying working-class voters in favour of a “woke” agenda, including: “That’s the reality of what they’re doing. They no longer care, they have no plans, they have no solutions.

“All they’re focused on, frankly, are the woke, managerial middle class who happen to be eco-zealots.”