Reform drops three candidates but says people should still vote for them

[muriel_volestrangler]

Reform UK has dropped three of its candidates following reports they had made offensive or racist comments, a spokesman has said.

Edward Oakenfull, who is standing in Derbyshire Dales; Robert Lomas, a candidate in Barnsley North, and Leslie Lilley, standing in Southend East and Rochford, will still appear on the ballot paper as Reform candidates as it is too late for them to be removed.

A Reform spokesman said if any of the three were elected they would sit as independent MPs.

However, he said people should still vote for the candidates if they wished to register support for Reform.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c727xz2kkgjo

Cakeism is clearly alive and well on the British right wing.

[Doodley]

1. Racist? I thought that was the whole point of Reform.

[Emrys]

2. "Reform UK has dropped three of its candidates ..."

[Emrys]

3. Here's one who's still standing

Robert Smith (no, not that one) in Orkney & Shetland:

Reform UK general election candidate claimed Nicola Sturgeon should be 'shot' in vile outburst

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/reform-uk-general-election-candidate-33151066

The Record (not an SNP-supporting organ) reports social media posts by Smith that include from 2016 “Since the great David Attenborough legitimised calls for political leaders to be shot, why not start with this bitch?”, calling JK Rowling a "wild bitch", Christine Lagarde the “head bitch of the globalists”, Ursula von der Leyen a “silly bitch”, and just for variety, Guy Verhofstadt and Alastair Campbell “c***s” (I don't think he used asterisks).

Here's his election address, which reads like the sort of manifesto the media publish after a mass murderer's been apprehended:



People have observed that it's light on the overt racism, which might be explained by the demographics of the islands, whose islandness might also explain the lack of slurs against "boat people".

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. Wow. That's full tin-foil hat madness.

I hope people keep sharp instruments like scissors away from him. He has drunk deep from the QAnon well, and cannot cope with women - any of them, it seems.

[T_i_B]

5. Misogyny is a growing trend on the right.

I suspect that there's a variety of reasons for this, one being the sort of men generally labelled as "incels" being a prime target for the far right. It's also very prevalent with "religious right" types, many of whom are discovering John Knox.