Nigel Farage’s anti-immigration Reform UK party has announced that it will withdraw its support for three candidates due to racist statements made by the candidates. This decision comes after nominations for Thursday’s vote have closed, meaning that the three candidates in question will still appear on the ballot papers under the Reform UK party.
According to reports from British media sources, Edward Oakenfull, a central England candidate, posted comments on social media last year about the IQ of people from Sub-Saharan Africa. Oakenfull has claimed that his comments were taken out of context. Another candidate, Robert Lomas, made disparaging remarks about black people in an interview with The Times, stating that they need to “get off their asses” and stop acting “like savages”. The party claims that these comments were also taken out of context. Candidate Leslie Lilley faced backlash on social media for referring to migrants who crossed the Channel illegally as “scum”.
Nigel Farage publicly disavowed all three candidates in response to the controversy surrounding their statements. When confronted with their comments on the BBC, Farage stated that he wanted “nothing to do with them”. Farage, who declared his candidacy in early June, acknowledged that he had not had time to thoroughly vet all the candidates prior to their nominations.