- author, Becky Morton
- Role, Political Correspondent
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A Reform UK spokesperson said the organization had abandoned three of its candidates following reports they had made offensive comments.
Edward Oakenfull, who is running in the Derbyshire Dales, Robert Lummes, who is running in Barnsley North, and Lesley Lilley, who is running in Southend East and Rochford, will still appear on the ballot as reform candidates as it is too late to remove them.
An Islah spokesman said that if any of the three were elected, they would sit as independent MPs.
However, he said people should vote for candidates if they want to register their support for reform.
This comes after Labour leader Nigel Farage disavowed the candidates during an appearance on the BBC’s Question Time programme on Friday evening, when he was confronted with their remarks.
“I don’t want anything to do with them,” Farage told the programme.
When asked what the reform would say to voters in constituencies where candidates were dropped, the party spokesman said it would “encourage them to vote for the party, by voting for those people who are on the ballot.”
He added that in this way people would still be able to vote for the “political programme” of reform.
“I’m not saying it’s perfect, but the size of the reform share at the national level is what matters,” he added.
Warning: This story contains language that may be offensive.
Mr Okunful posted derogatory comments about the intelligence of sub-Saharan Africans on social media last year. He previously told the BBC that the comments were taken out of context.
Lomas reportedly said that blacks should “get off.” [their] “Lazy” and stop behaving “like savages.” The comments were published by The Times on 8 June, with Reform claiming at the time that they were “quotes out of context” and that it needed more time to respond.
Mr Lilly reportedly described people arriving on small boats as “scum” in a social media post, adding: “I hope your family gets robbed, beaten or attacked.”
However, he said this was partly due to having to find candidates quickly after the surprise announcement of a general election in July.
Since the beginning of the election campaign, the Islah Party has faced persistent questions about its choice of candidates, after numerous examples of offensive posts emerged on social media.
All major parties had to drop potential parliamentary candidates due to inappropriate comments, but this was the case for a greater number of Reform candidates than other parties.
The party blamed a company it hired to conduct background checks on potential candidates, claiming it failed to conduct the audit before calling the election.
Mr Farage also faced angry questions from the Question Time audience about a recording aired by Channel 4 which showed Andrew Parker, a publicist for the UK Reform movement, using a racist term about Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
Farage described the comments as a “tirade of ancient abuse” but suggested the man may have been paid and claimed it was a “political setup of staggering proportions”.
The UK’s Reform Commission said it had reported Channel 4 to the Electoral Commission, the election watchdog, over alleged election interference.
The party said it would also demand an investigation by media regulator Ofcom.
On Friday, Channel 4 News said it stood by its “accurate and impartial journalism”, adding that it had first met Mr Parker at the Reform Party’s UK headquarters and had not paid him any money.
Parker said in a statement that he wanted to “profoundly apologize to Nigel Farage and the Reform Party if my personal views reflected poorly on them and brought their reputation into disrepute as this was not my intention.”
Essex Police said it was “urgently assessing” the comments made on the program “to confirm the presence of any criminal offences”.
A spokesman for the Reform Party confirmed that another person who appeared in the confidential report broadcast by Channel 4, George Jones, was a real volunteer for the party.
In the footage, Jones, a long-time party activist who organises events for Farage, described the pride flag on a police car as a “degenerate flag”.
It is repeatedly suggested that members of the LGBT+ community are pedophiles and criticize the police presence for Pride.
“You can’t sack a volunteer,” the spokesman said, but Mr Jones was “no longer involved in the campaign,” adding: “He’s gone.”
Asked whether Reform UK and Mr Farage would also say they did not want to deal with Mr Jones in light of his comments, the spokesman said there was a “difference” between Mr Jones’ case and Mr Parker’s case.
He said both individuals were no longer part of the campaign, but Mr Jones was previously known to Reform UK and his comments were “more joking”, while they had no idea who Mr Parker was and his comments were “far from acceptable”.
Farage had previously described Jones’ comments as “vulgar, intoxicating and wrong”.
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