It's clear that Reform UK's vetting still isn't up to scratch.
How’s Nigel Farage’s ‘beefed up’ vetting process going for Reform UK candidates? Clearly not well at all, after yet another candidate for this May’s local elections was found to have liked Islamophobic posts.
Anti-extremist campaign group Hope not Hate, has revealed that Paul Taylor who is standing for Reform for Waterhead in Oldham, has liked a number of Islamophobic posts.
On his Facebook account, Hope not Hate says that it found evidence of Taylor liking pictures of Mayor Andy Burnham with brown skin as well as liking comments saying “This is Great Britain not an Islamic colony for them scums”.
It’s clear that Reform UK’s vetting still isn’t up to scratch.
Farage and his party have tried to portray the issues with their candidates as just a few bad apples, however it’s clear that the issues are systemic and widespread.
One of its candidates in Bolton, Derek Bullock, was twice previously expelled from the Tories for Islamophobia. In one incident, following the Manchester Arena bombing he said: “Shoot the P***s on the spot”.
And in a separate incident, a well-known Reform activist who campaigned for the party in the forthcoming local elections is revealed to have denied the Holocaust and repeatedly praised Adolf Hitler.
Aaron Lee Taylor, who volunteered in Reform’s head office and twice met Nigel Farage has frequently shared material online that promotes Nazi Germany.
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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