Reform has a "golden rule" not to allow people with previous ties to the BNP to join the party, yet three former BNP members were found in its ranks
Three Reform UK candidates have appeared on a leaked British National Party (BNP) membership list from 2008.
An investigation by the Mirror and anti-extremist group Hope Not Hate has revealed that three Reform candidates in the upcoming local elections were previously affiliated to the BNP.
This is despite Reform leader Nigel Farage having boasted that his party has a “golden rule” that prohibits former BNP activists from joining the party. Zia Yusuf has also separately claimed that Reform has “the best vetting in the country”.
Reform has now expelled the three candidates from the party for “failing to declare their previous memberships of an organisation proscribed by the party”.
Last week, Jewish News revealed that David Prior, a Reform candidate in the Gateshead ward of Saltwell and Bensham, had previously been a member of the BNP.
Two further candidates, George Parnell, a Reform candidate for both Hart District Council and Hampshire County Council, and John Black, a Reform candidate in Blackburn, were both on the BNP list.
Parnell, who works in tech, told the Mirror that he may have joined the BNP for a week, before realising: “actually, what did I sign up for?”. The former Reform candidate later backtracked, claiming he had never signed up to be a member of the BNP.
Black, who is standing to be a council candidate in Blackburn, the Mirror he had never been a BNP member.
Asked to explain why his name was on the leaked list, he replied: “I have no idea.”
Prior, the boss of a roofing company, told the Mirror: “I made a mistake a lot of years ago… when I found out what they [the BNP] were all about I didn’t want anything else to do with them.”
Hope Not Hate’s director of research Joe Mulhall said: “The party has always been quick to push back against being labelled ‘far right’ yet recent weeks have once again shown the party is still riddled with extremists.
“These new revelations will be embarrassing for Reform as Nigel Farage has previously said that former BNP activists are not welcome in his party, calling it a ‘golden rule’ of his. Their decision to quickly expel these three candidates is welcome but it makes their refusal to do the same to the other candidates recently exposed for racism and extremism all the more telling.”
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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