BRIAN READE: ‘Reform wants troops – maggots low on intelligence however excessive on poison creeping out of sewage works’
How many of the more than 1,450 Reform councillors will get the chop, wonders Brian Reade, because Farage’s disciples won’t be able to escape ferocious judgment
Just that normal bloke Nigel Farage(Image: Getty Images)
It wasn’t so long ago that we would laugh at the utterances and actions of many of Nigel Farage’s disciples. Who can forget UKIP MEP Godfrey Bloom saying we shouldn’t send aid to “Bongo Bongo Land” or UKIP councillor David Silvester saying Britain’s floods were down to God taking revenge on us legalising gay marriage.
David Cameron, for once spot-on, dismissed UKIP as a shower of “fruitcakes, loonies and closet racists,” which prompted Farage to leap on to a high horse and say: “Fruit cakes and loonies we can live with, as we have a sense of humour, but we draw the line at his unfounded accusations of racism.” It didn’t age well.
As thousands of activists were drawn to Farage’s Brexit Party and social media exploded, that line was crossed many times. And now that his Reform UK party is surging in the polls and needs frontline troops, it’s open day in the sewage works with maggots low on intelligence but high on poison creeping out. Except the joke’s no longer funny. At last week’s local elections Daniel Devaney won for Reform in Bradford despite a social media post in which he described Muslims as “pure scum” and Stuart Prior, who was elected in Essex, has resigned after being accused of vile, racist posts.
Jay Cooper, successful in Sefton, wrote last year on Facebook: “The Hallocaust [sic] is a hoax. There wasn’t [sic] even 6 million Jews in Europe at the time” and Glenn Gibbins, who was elected in Sunderland is being investigated over this alleged post: “carnt [sic] believe amount of nigerians in the town.. should melt them all down and fill in the potholes.”
They are just a few of the worst examples of up to 30 of Farage’s new councillors being investigated for things they’re supposed to have written, and they’ve only been in office for a week. So with Reform having a vetting procedure with more holes in it than Bernard Manning’s old string vest, how many of the more than 1,450 new councillors will face the chop?
A constant refrain from Reform voters is that Labour and Tory politicians are all in it for themselves, but that Farage is “one of us” – a normal, patriotic guy who wants to save his country. So how does that square with him being investigated by the parliamentary sleaze watchdog for failing to declare a £5million gift from a crypto-billionaire?
How many “normal blokes” do you know have had five million quid stuck in their bank account from a rich businessman with, allegedly, no questions asked? One of Reform’s Deputy Leader Richard Tice’s companies escaped paying nearly £100,000 in corporation tax. He says he’s done no wrong and that everyone should seek legal ways to pay the minimum amount of tax. Is that the way to save your country?
The harsh truth about politics is that it’s easy to attempt to get into but if you succeed you will face the same brutal scrutiny you apply to politicians who are already in office. Now that Reform is seen as a potential party of government, any grifters at the top or potential racists at the bottom will face ferocious judgment.
To them I say: welcome to the mainstream system that you view as such an elitist hellhole full of thick, twisted shysters, you want to change it. Here’s a mirror. Take a good look.
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