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Reform UK (formerly The Brexit Party) is a hard-Eurosceptic political party in UK that splintered from UKIP in January 2019 and officially launched on the 12th of April 2019. It won 29 members to the European Parliament in May 2019, but no MPs in the UK general election later that year.[1] The party has the rather foolish slogan "Let's Make Britain Great". It's foolish because the island has been known as "Great Britain" since Ptolemy called it "μεγάλη Βρεττανία" in 147-148 CE.[2]:112-113
In January 2021 the Party rebranded itself to 'Reform UK', with electoral and House of Lords reform considered top priorities for the party.[3] Its first leader Nigel Farage quit in March 2021 to focus on other priorities such as Twitter (presumably assuming he would never get elected to anything); he was replaced as leader by Richard Tice, the former chairperson.[4] However, Farage returned as leader for the 2024 election.[5]
Nigel Farage[6][7] and several other UKIP MEPs,[8][9][10] including its Scottish leader, David Coburn[11] quit the United Kingdom Independence Party in late 2018, over infighting about anti-Islam activist Tommy Robinson being given an advisor role by Gerard Batten, as well as the party increasingly becoming more Islamophobic and extreme in its policies.[12]
In January 2019, Farage said he was joining the new Brexit Party. It was created on 20 January and registered with the electoral commission on 5th of February 2019 by former UKIP Economic Spokesman, Catherine Blaiklock. In February 2019, Farage joined the Brexit Party alongside seven other ex-UKIP MEPs: Tim Aker, Paul Nuttall, Jonathan Bullock, David Coburn, Bill Etheridge, Nathan Gill and Julia Reid who are now all (as of 19 February 2019) listed as Brexit Party MEPs on the Europe.eu website.[13] Some other ex-UKIP MEPs e.g. Steven Woolfe have said they will support the party, but sit as independents because they don't see the point in joining a new party with so little time left until Brexit is scheduled on 29 March, that is, unless there is an extension to the withdrawal process by extending Article 50, which seems unlikely. On BBC Newsnight in February, Woolfe who still sits as an independent MEP stated that he would consider standing for the Brexit Party.
Amid the chaos of repeatedly delayed Brexit, the party did very well in the May 2019 European Parliament elections, becoming the largest British party with 29 MEPs (the Lib Dems were second with 19).[14] This was despite the fact that Farage's party had no manifesto and no policies other than getting the fuck out of Europe.[15] Eventually in September 2019 they unveiled another policy: abolishing inheritance tax.[16]
Farage has been called a hypocrite[17] for criticising the far-right association of UKIP under Batten's leadership, when he himself has a long history of making xenophobic statements[18][19][20] and supporting individuals associated with the alt-right such as Paul Joseph Watson, Mark Meechan and Carl Benjamin. In 2017, Farage also campaigned for the Alternative für Deutschland[21] who at that time were adopting anti-Muslim immigration policies similar to those of For Britain, an anti-Islam party that splintered from UKIP after the failure of Anne Marie Waters to take control of the party in the UKIP leadership election, 2017. Yet Farage has heavily criticized Waters, describing her as a racist.[22]
Although Farage criticises Robinson and Waters, there is actually very little different in their views concerning immigration and Islam, only that Farage is more cautious in public not to make outright anti-Muslim statements as he realises it will be political suicide. Despite Farage leaving UKIP in December 2018 to become an independent MEP because of the party being widely perceived as a racist anti-Muslim party and dropping to as low as 5-6% in opinion polls, there were resignations a year earlier such as by UKIP MEP Jonathan Arnott who said he disapproved of the hard-right wing shift of UKIP on "religious and cultural issues"[23] and by ex-UKIP donor Arron Banks, who as early as April 2017 said UKIP is going in the wrong direction for flirting for the first time with Islamophobic policies in the run up to the 2017 General Election[24] when the UKIP manifesto's "Integration Agenda" was likened to the British National Party's.[25] Farage never left the party at this point nor raised any concerns about UKIP's new Muslim-bashing policies, and so his reasons for leaving might not be what he claims, for example it has been suggested " Farage craves two things: power and the spotlight. UKIP can no longer provide him with either – so why stick around?"[26] On the other hand while his motivations for leaving UKIP are perhaps still questionable, Farage has been praised for distancing himself from Robinson and the EDL's street thuggery and hooliganism that Batten has allowed into UKIP.[27]
The Brexit Party is trying to promote itself as a more moderate alternative to UKIP that Farage has described as taken over by extremists.[28] However, the party's founder Catherine Blaiklock has a history of making inflammatory comments about Muslims, and appears to be a counter-jihad crank with views that are the same as Tommy Robinson and Anne Marie Waters, having even written articles for a pro-Robinson website.[29] Iman Atta, director of Tell MAMA (Measuring Anti-Muslim Attacks), which records anti-Muslim incidents, has said:
Blaiklock’s comments are jaw dropping and show a penchant for polarised views on Muslims. When Farage resigned from UKIP in December he said that UKIP was "turning a blind eye to extremist politics" and had become "obsessed with Islam". It seems he has backed another organisation whose head is obsessed with Islam and who has a very skewed view of Muslims."
Blaiklock for example has accused Muslim men of “impregnating white British girls to create Muslim babies”, claiming it’s “pretty well-known” that Muslims in the west think “someday this will all be ours”.[30] She has also been criticized for making controversial comments about race such as black men are violent due to high testosterone,[31] but denies being a racist by bizarrely carrying a large framed photo of her black husband around with her.[32]
Because Brexit fell flat on its face, the UK had to go through European Elections in May 2019. The Brexit Party put up some choice candidates, and as a result of widespread dissatisfaction with the British government's failures got 29 MEPs elected to a parliament it wanted to leave. (Each region elects multiple candidates to the parliament.)[1]
The party launched in Scotland in January 2021, with its Scottish leader already an MSP (Member of the Scottish Parliament) for South of Scotland. The party appointed Michelle Ballantyne, who was a member of the Scottish Conservative party until 2020, when she quit after failing to be chosen to replace Ruth Davidson as leader. She said she was looking for "angry" members of the public to stand as candidates.[33]
Farage decided to give up the leadership in March 2021, reportedly feeling fed up with electoral politics and feeling his work on Brexit was done, although he would remain honorary president of Reform UK. He said he had been "reflecting on my role and my life over the course of the next few years" and had decided he could do more by being a troll on social media: he said he would concentrate on fighting the evil influence of China and on stopping "woke" progressives from changing the way British history is taught.[4]
His replacement was Richard Tice: Reform UK is not a democratic organization so there was no leadership election. Nonetheless, Farage said that Tice, who was formerly party chair, would "democratise" Reform UK and try and improve its organization to maybe try and get some MPs.[34] Tice's day job is in property asset management, as boss of Quidnet Capital LLP and formerly working for commercial property company CLS Holdings.[35] He is in a relationship with Isabel Oakeshott, the right-wing journalist most famous for claiming David Cameron stuck his penis in a pig's head.[36][37] Tice's own sexual proclivities are unrecorded.
In the party's 2021 autumn conference Tice explained that the party's priorities would be campaigning for low taxes and healthcare, and opposing Boris Johnson and the government's Covid restrictions; he also suggested a move away from culture war rhetoric of the sort Farage loves.[38]
For the 2021 London mayoral and Greater London Assembly elections - Reform UK entered into a pact with Laurence Fox's Reclaim Party.[39] Fox ran for mayor as a candidate for Reclaim while Reform UK contested the GLA seats (constituency and regional lists). Fox would go on to win only 1.9% of the vote, whilst Reform UK won 0 seats in the GLA.
“”However, as the vast majority of candidates are indeed racist, misogynistic, and bigoted, I do not wish to be directly associated with people who hold such views that are so vastly opposing to my own and what I stand for.
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—Georgie David, former Reform UK candidate explaining why she dropped out[40] |
Reform UK vowed to stand 600 candidates, one against every Conservative, in the next UK general election. This, however, lead to some very questionable selections, a large number of which had to be hurriedly disowned by the party.[41][42] The majority of these were precipitated by media examination of the candidates social media accounts, leading Tice to exclaim, "For heaven's sake, if you're going to have a glass of wine on a Friday night then don't use social media, it's not sensible." Tice also claimed to have rushed to publish its list of candidates precisely so that they could be vetted by the media and other organisations, and maintained that, "every party has its fair share of muppets and morons."[43] The apparent discrepancy between which candidates were disowned and which were not, was explained:
Reform UK makes a distinction between malice and eccentricity in its activists and its supporters. Malice we take very seriously, harmless opinion is not a problem in a party that believes wholeheartedly in freedom of speech, nor should it be in the wider society.[44]
A shockingly large number of candidates were revealed to be overt racists; this should have come as no surprise since Farage himself is a known racist. Jonathan Kay (disowned candidate for South Ribble) resurrected the teenage edgelord classic lie that African people have low IQs,[45][46] whilst Pete Addis (disowned candidate for South Shropshire) regressed all the way back to the schoolyard by using the racial slur "chinky," and claiming, "Bum sex, this is where brown babies come from!"
The most common form of bigotry was however Islamophobia, despite being called a silly, made-up word by Noel Matthews (National Organizer and candidate for North West Leicestershire).[47][48] Calls for the deportation and the banning from public office of "the Islams," as Roger Hoe (disowned candidate for Beverley and Holderness) calls them,[41] came from Richard Brown (candidate for Harrogate and Knaresborough),[41][49] Mick Greenhough (disowned candidate for Orpington), who claimed "The only solution is to remove the Muslims from our territory,"[45][46] and Jonathan Kay (disowned candidate for South Ribble) who justified this as they can "never coexist with others."[45][46] While Sandra Senior (candidate for Ossett and Denby Dale) campaigned for bans on Halal meat, "the Niqab and Burqa."[49] Joe "Mr Shrewsbury" Dyas (resigned candidate for Shrewsbury), however, deserves special mention for his surprisingly well-informed and eloquent attacks, including one which read, "They come to this county, live off are benefits,[sic] wear all this fucking seek shit,[sic] bomb are sub ways."[sic][48]
London was singled out by Amodio Amato (disowned candidate for Stevenage) as an "Islamic State," with, "a Muslim army run by Sadiq Khan,"[50][51] The aforementioned "Islamic Mayor," to borrow the terminology of Sandra Senior (candidate for Ossett and Denby Dale),[49] was also attacked by Hamish Haddow (candidate for Chipping Barnet), who had previously stepped down as a Tory councillor due to such comments;[52] Jonathan Kay (disowned candidate for South Ribble), who accused him of being a "Muslim supremacist supporter";[45][46] and Nick Davies (resigned candidate for North East Bedfordshire), who compared him to (wait for it…) Adolf Hitler.[44] While, presumably in the interests of diversity, Amodio Amato (disowned candidate for Stevenage) proclaimed Humza Yousaf, "most certainly a Hamas terrorist supporter."[50][51]
Yvette Maxwell-Darkes (September 1959–)[53] (disowned candidate for Swindon North)[54] who said "I actually like [Tommy Robinson] – he stands up and says things that most people think,"[41] was joined by Richard Brown (candidate for Harrogate and Knaresborough),[41][49] Ian Harris (disowned candidate for Lewes),[55][56] Roger Hoe (disowned candidate for Beverley and Holderness),[41] Noel Matthews (National Organizer and candidate for North West Leicestershire)[47][48] and Garry Sutherland (candidate for Exmouth and Exeter East) in finding what the Islamophobic white nationalist says "chimes with" them.[41]
Misogyny made a surely equally surprising number of appearances. Pete Addis (disowned candidate for South Shropshire) called Angela Rayner, a 'slag' and a 'trollop', supported by slut-shaming from Ginny Heathcote Ball (disowned candidate for Rutland and Stamford),[41] before he followed Laurence Fox and Dan Wooton into unemployment by telling journalist Ava Evans, "I'd shag you" after a "few more" pints of beer.[50] Other targets included Jess Phillips, who Richard Brown (disowned candidate for Harrogate and Knaresborough) called a "bitch",[41][49] and Michelle Obama, who Amodio Amato (disowned candidate for Stevenage) targeted with the tired old conspiracy that she's "a transvestite."[50][57] With Katie Hopkins the only woman to receive any sort of respect, courtesy of Richard Brown (candidate for Harrogate and Knaresborough)[41][49]
In an apparent effort to demonstrate the importance of intersectionality, black women proved a popular target, especially among white women. Diane Abbott topped the list with attacks from, among others, Hamish Haddow (candidate for Chipping Barnet),[58] Ian Harris (disowned candidate for Lewes),[55][56] and Lee Bunker (South West Regional Manager).[49] Ginny Heathcote Ball (disowned candidate for Rutland and Stamford) diversified into telling radio presenter Nihal Arthanayake to "emigrate to a black-only country," and demanding the deportation of activist Femi Oluwole,[41] whilst Sandra Senior (candidate for Ossett and Denby Dale) added Gina Miller and Naz Shah to the list.[49]
Homophobia and transphobia made their obligatory appearance, with Philip Durling (candidate for Stevenage) suggesting adoptive gay parents are groomers,[59] and David Carpin (disowned candidate for Henley and Thame) calling trans women "mentally ill men," and saying gay pride was a "sin". Most thought provoking, however, was Carpin's questioning who we should save from a burning building given the choice between Lia Thomas, Dylan Mulvaney, Sam Smith, and (wait for it…) Adolf Hitler.[60][41]
Anti-immigration rhetoric was rife, with attacks on "coloured illegals," as Roger Hoe (disowned candidate for Beverley and Holderness) calls them,[41] including Nick Davies' (resigned candidate for North East Bedfordshire) of an "invasion" and a "silent army housed in hotels";[44][50] Lee Bunker (South West Regional Manager) wheeling out the old "bringing in diseases with them" trope, and demanded their conscription into the Ukrainian army, where he presumably thought those diseases would be of value;[49] and Hamish Haddow (candidate for Chipping Barnet) describing the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) “working as a taxi service for illegal immigrants”.[61][62] While Edward Oakenfull (candidate for Derbyshire Dales) engaged in a rare piece of intersectional representation by describing disabled asylum seekers as "scroungers" who "should go back to wherever they came from."[41]
Trevor Nicholls (candidate for Warrington North) lead the charge for white nationalism complaining “our white pride” is denounced as racist, and “BEING PROUD TO BE WHITE” is “very close” to being a crime.[48] Richard Brown (candidate for Harrogate and Knaresborough) went old school by shouting out Enoch Powell,[41][49] while Joe "Mr Shrewsbury" Dyas (resigned candidate for Shrewsbury)[48] and Ian Harris (disowned candidate for Lewes) were among those showing support for the British National Party (BNP) and its former leader Nick Griffin; Harris also supported Paul Joseph Watson, but drew the line at Richard Tice, whom he attacked.[55][56]
The Great Replacement and white genocide conspiracy theories were evidenced by Philip Durling (candidate for Stevenage) by the brief period in which the three British nations had non-white leaders (Rishi Sunak, Humza Yousaf and Vaughan Gething),[63] and supported by Edward Oakenfull (candidate for Derbyshire Dales), who explained "importing loads of sub-Saharan Africans plus Muslims that inter-breed" created "gene pool decline";[41] Mark Butcher (candidate for Blackpool South), with a classic call-back to the Kalergi Plan;[64] and Mick Greenhough (disowned candidate for Orpington), who said "problem is the Askenazi Jews who have caused the world massive misery."[45][46]
Climate change denial was also seemingly deemed largely defensible, with Chris Farmer (candidate for Gloucester) saying, "Ignore all climate crisis claims, because they are invented to justify the creation of dictatorships”;[61][62] Maggie Moriondo (candidate for Bedford) claiming "we are being fed BS on the climate hoax. We will be force fed a diet of man-made meat whilst elites enjoy the real thing";[44] Lynn Murphy (candidate for Easington) saying, "You are deluded if you think the world is going to end due to climate change. The climate changes every season, we have Bill Gates creating clouds to block out the sun, yet the Earth is a fireball of molten lava, basic high school science teaches you that";[61][62] and Tim Prosser (candidate for Derby) sharing the climate 'research' of Tucker Carlson.[44] Pete Addis (disowned candidate for South Shropshire), however, apparently went too far by, among other things, calling for David Attenborough to be "killed off."[50]
Also acceptable are the antivax and COVID-19 denialist conspiracies, lead by Alex Stevenson (candidate for Amber Valley), who was previously suspended as a Tory councillor for supporting Andrew Bridgen's nonsense,[65] and espoused by Richard Brown (candidate for Harrogate and Knaresborough),[49] Roger Hoe (disowned candidate for Beverley and Holderness), Mark Hoath (candidate for Sutton Coldfield), David Holland (candidate for Mid-Bedfordshire),[44] and Andrew Husband (candidate for North Durham), who called COVID-19 vaccines the "greatest crime against humanity".[44][41] While Trevor Lloyd-Jones (candidate for Aldershot) accused Matt Hancock of euthanizing elderly people with midazolam during the pandemic.[61][62]
Other conspiracy theories deemed acceptable include: the anti-World Economic Forum (WEF) and 15-minute cities conspiracy theories spread by Chris Farmer (candidate for Gloucester), David Holland (candidate for Mid-Bedfordshire) and Trevor Lloyd-Jones (candidate for Aldershot);[61][62] the chemtrail conspiracy theories, spread by Andrea Whitehead (candidate for Leeds West and Pudsey); the claim "direct energy weapons" caused wildfires in Texas and Brazil made by Andrew Husband (candidate for North Durham);[44] the claim that the Labour Party anti-Semitism row was "a false flag, probably masterminded by Mossad/CIA," which got Jacqui Harris (candidate for Kenilworth and Southam) suspended as a Tory councillor; and even the conspiracy theories of Neil Oliver, which Maggie Moriondo (candidate for Bedford) claimed "eloquently summarises the global pushback against globalist tyranny",[44] and David Icke, which Garry Sutherland (candidate for Exmouth and Exeter East) affirmed stating, "Remember when they used to mock him? We're not laughing now."[41] While special mention must go to red-pilled conspiracy theorist Mark Butcher (candidate for Blackpool South) who called the (DVLA) an “evil entity”, in a rant which included: Agenda 21, the CIA invention of TV to put people to sleep, and the government getting a person's weight in gold whenever they sign a document.[66]
In a victory for conspiritualism, the party has supported self-proclaimed fortune teller Amelia Randall's (March 1985–)[67] (candidate for Herne Bay and Sandwich) right to sell spells and psychic readings for up to £200 on her OnlyFans.[41]
Animal rights proved a divisive issue with convicted animal abuser Garry Sutherland (candidate for Exmouth and Exeter East) being defended by the party whilst Iris Leask (March 1956–)[68] (disowned candidate for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine) was not, after calling for meat-eaters to "eat other humans" and for the human race to be "obliterated."[50][69]
Support for foreign far-right populist leaders was shown, including Vladimir Putin, who Hamish Haddow (candidate for Chipping Barnet) lost his position as a Tory councillor for supporting,[70] and Lega's Matteo Salvini, whom Adam Wood (candidate for Rawmarsh and Conisbrough) seems a little too close to.[49]
Upping the violent rhetoric Ginny Heathcote Ball (disowned candidate for Rutland and Stamford) described herself a "far-Right hooligan and proud of it," and incited for "a purge of the scum in the Labour Party" using the hashtag #AcidAttack,[41] while Benjamin "Beau" Dade (disowned candidate for Swindon South) is worthy of special mention for an tirade in The Mallard calling for the expulsion of "millions of foreigners and their dependents" and a "purge" of civil servants and judges who are "a cancer which must be cut out, regardless of the disruption it causes."[71][41][54]