Reform UK candidate is booed as he tells hustings Putin is ‘excellent’
The Reform UK candidate in Salisbury – the Wiltshire city where Russian spies deployed a deadly nerve agent – has told local voters Vladimir Putin is ‘very good’.
Julian Malins KC, who is hoping to be elected to the House of Commons on 4 July, made the ‘deeply offensive’ remarks at a hustings event on Sunday night.
According to the Salisbury Journal, the leading barrister was booed after he praised the Russian president – who he also compared favourably to Adolf Hitler.
The row came as Reform leader Nigel Farage also faced a backlash over comments about Mr Putin’s regime.
He claimed that NATO and the EU ‘provoked’ Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, while saying he ‘admired’ Mr Putin as a ‘political operator’.
Reform UK candidate Julian Malins KC made the ‘deeply offensive’ remarks at a hustings event in Salisbury on Sunday night
The leading barrister was booed by local voters after he praised the Russian president – who he also compared favourably to Adolf Hitler
The row came as Reform leader Nigel Farage also faced a backlash over comments about Mr Putin’s regime
In March 2018, Sergei and Yulia Skripal were poisoned with Novichok in Salisbury, while a third victim – Dawn Sturgess – later died after coming into contact with the nerve agent
In March 2018, Sergei and Yulia Skripal were poisoned with Novichok in Salisbury, while a third victim – Dawn Sturgess – died in July of that year after coming into contact with the nerve agent.
Two Russian military intelligence officers are suspected to have carried out the nerve agent attack.
During Sunday’s hustings event in Salisbury, Mr Malins was quizzed about whether Reform would continue support for Ukraine in the face of Russia’s invasion.
As reported by the local newspaper, the 74-year-old said: ‘We support diplomacy.
‘We support every possible effort to reach a compromise and a settlement over the issues in Ukraine.
‘That is what the adults in the room do. Stop the killing and negotiate a proper settlement.’
He added: ‘War is not about as it were punishing or in some way running over thousands of young men in tanks and blowing them up because one person takes points of view which you disagree with.
‘I have actually met Putin and had a 10-minute chat with him and he seemed very good. He is not the Austrian gentleman with a moustache come alive again.’
Respondoing to Mr Malins’ comments, Cabinet Office minister John Glen – the Conservative candidate in Salisbury – told MailOnline: ‘Having seen how Putin personally ordered the Novichok attack on Salisbury and the death and devastation this caused to our city I know most people who live here disagree with the Reform candidate.
‘Putin is a danger to the West and we must stand up to him not appease him’
Labour candidate Matt Aldridge said: ‘As an Army veteran and serving Reservist, I’ve lived the realities of combat and I have worked with Ukrainian soldiers.
‘The reason we are supporting our allies in Ukraine is because Putin rolled his tanks over the border in an act of unprovoked aggression, instantly creating a war resulting in deaths, devastation and displacement.
‘To hear a political candidate try to argue that Putin ‘seems good’ is deeply offensive – not just to me personally, but to the Ukrainian people fighting for their country and to the people of Salisbury who have suffered Putin’s aggression firsthand.
‘Labour’s commitment to UK defence and NATO is unshakeable and we will stand by our allies in Ukraine.’
Andrew Murrison – the Tory candidate in the South West Wiltshire constituency – said: ‘Oh, good grief – this guy standing for Reform in Novichok’d Salisbury expressing his admiration for butcher Putin.’
Mr Malins told MailOnline: ‘The quotation elides several things which I said.
‘First I said that Putin was a good ‘Russian president’ i.e. the kind of president who enjoys majority support of the Russian people. This has been demonstrated even by Western-funded polling agencies.
‘As such the West has to deal with him on a diplomatic level in order to seek a peaceful resolution to the conflict in Ukraine.
‘This is hardly controversial, Nigel Farage has done this election a great favour by causing the Ukraine conflict to become now a matter of debate.
‘I did say that I had met President Putin, which I have, and that to describe him as the new Adolf Hitler is mistaken.
‘You may not be aware of this but many media outlets worldwide have ceased referring to Hitler by name in order to keep him out of peoples minds and instead refer to him, as I did, as the ‘Austrian with a moustache’.
‘The clarity of my response was prematurely interrupted by the over-exuberant ‘boos and hisses’ of the warmonger elements in the crowd, as described by the Salisbury Journal.’
