Reform UK drops two more candidates over offensive social media posts

Nigel Farage’s Reform UK has dropped two more election candidates and suspended a third over a series of offensive remarks, reportedly including a slur about “brown babies”.

The right-wing challenger party has suspended its South Shropshire candidate Pete Addis after a slew of comments posted online were exposed.

Vulgar social media posts uncovered by the Mail on Sunday showed he had called for Sir David Attenborough to be “killed off” and made a racist joke about “brown babies”.

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Reform said it has removed Mr Addis, as well as Amodio Amato, who reportedly said London is an “Islamic State” and that there would be “a Muslim army run by Sadiq Khan”.

A spokesman for the party said: “Amodio Amato and Pete Addis have been removed from their candidature with immediate effect, for comments that clearly breach any basic idea of decency. Iris Leask has been suspended pending further investigation.”

Ms Leask reportedly called for meat-eaters to “eat other humans” and for the human race to be “obliterated”.

Mr Addis told the Mail on Sunday that he “obviously” regretted his remarks and that they were “a joke”.

They are only the latest Reform UK candidates to be dropped amid accusations they made racist or offensive posts on social media.

Campaign group Hope Not Hate found tweets by candidates Jonathan Kay and Mick Greenhough in which they made derogatory comments about Muslims and black people.

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Mr Kay, who was standing for election in South Ribble, tweeted in 2019 that Muslims “never coexist with others” and should 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 said Ashkenazi Jews were a “problem” and had “caused the world massive misery”.

Hope Not Hate, which campaigns against the far right, said the pair were “wildly unsuitable for public office”.

Both men were removed as Reform candidates on Wednesday, following the publication of Hope Not Hate’s findings.

A spokesman for the party said: “Reform has removed our candidates for Orpington and South Ribble.

“We want to make it crystal clear that while we defend our candidates’ right to freedom of speech vigorously, we act fast when we find that individuals’ statements’ fall beneath our standards.

“Labour and Conservatives also have candidates that make statements that fall below acceptable standards, but we move faster than others in acting decisively.”

Reform has now ditched nine candidates for the upcoming election following complaints about their comments on social media.

Benjamin “Beau” Dade was dropped as the candidate for Swindon South following a similar investigation by Hope Not Hate; while 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 comments made on social media.

The party has also drawn criticism over some of its other candidates, including a convicted animal abuser and a fortune-teller who sold spells for £200 on the OnlyFans website.

Increased scrutiny of Reform comes as the party is consistently sitting at third place in the polls, behind the Conservatives. It is not expected to win any seats in this year’s general election, but could deprive the Tories of majorities in tens of closely-fought battles across the country.