None of his alleged past comments seem to have worried Reform, who were more than happy to take him on as a candidate.
So much for Nigel Farge ‘beefing up’ his party’s vetting processes for candidates. Yet another Reform candidate has been exposed for allegedly posting racist and bigoted remarks on social media.
The Guardian reports that Derek Bullock, one of Reform’s candidates for Bolton Council next month, is a former Conservative who was suspended by the party over allegations he posted a racist comment about people of Pakistani heritage on Facebook. Bullock has said that the screenshots showing the comment were faked.
His alleged posts were first exposed when he stood for the Tories as a candidate in 2023, and show that at the time of the 2017 Manchester Arena terrorist attack he allegedly used a racial slur to call for people of Pakistani heritage to be shot.
Bullock was eventually dropped as a candidate by the Tories. The Guardian also reports that in 2020 he had faced internal disciplinary action by the Conservatives after allegedly sharing an anti-Islam article on Facebook.
However, none of his alleged past comments seem to have worried Reform, who were more than happy to take him on as a candidate.
They maintain that the social media posts from Bullock are ‘fake’.
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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