Reform UK row after a celebration chairman shared Nazi picture on social media and likened it to the Labour Government

A row has erupted within Reform UK after a branch chairman shared a Nazi image on social media and likened it to the Labour Government.

Steve Trumm made an ‘offensive’ post comparing the new digital ID scheme to Nazi Germany.

Mr Trumm, a semi-retired train driver and former soldier, has stood by his post but Reform leader Nigel Farage has condemned it.

The image uploaded by Reform’s Basingstoke branch chair shows Nazis depicted in a Dr Who episode titled ‘Let’s Kill Hitler’ with the caption ‘papers please’.

The post, shared on Facebook and X, referenced Labour’s proposed digital ID scheme, likening it to the atrocities committed by the Nazis during the Second World War.

When a local newspaper contacted Reform leader Nigel Farage over the post, he labelled it as ‘very offensive’.

Michael Newman OBE, the chief executive of the Association of Jewish Refugees, also condemned the post, which he said left him ‘deeply disturbed’.

When asked about the post by the Basingstoke Gazette, Mr Trumm, denied that it ‘glorifies Nazism’, and said he stood by the comment, because ‘history forgotten is history repeated.’

He added: ‘I thought it had a relevance to the actions of the government.

‘Mandatory ID is something that is widely associated with a ‘papers please’ society, which this country should be fearful of.

‘If we have a digital ID, that is, in my view, very nasty.

‘That was an image that spoke to me about the horrors and risks of going down a ‘papers please’ society.

‘It’s clear what I am getting at, the timing, the image, the content of the image, be very, very wary of those that want you to have a ‘paper’s please’ society.’

Mr Trumm told the Daily Mail this evening that he did not intend to cause any offence. 

He added: ‘I don’t deliberately go out to offend anyone but we have got to be able to talk about these things. 

‘Digital ID cards scare the living daylights out of me.  They are a slippery slope.’

Mr Trumm said the image had been posted as the banner picture on his private Facebook page. 

Referencing the recent Manchester Synagogue attack, he added: ‘I don’t want to add to the discomfort of Jewish people. 

‘It’s not my aim to cause offence so I will be a bit more circumspect in future.  But I will keep looking and pointing things out, it’s how we learn.’ 

The proposed digital IDs are due to be introduced by 2029 and will be required by anyone working in the UK as part of efforts to clamp down on illegal employment.

Labour argues the cards will help to curb illegal migration and could help streamline access to services.

But the scheme has attracted strong opposition – with almost three million people signing a petition against the measure – amid fears of mass surveillance and security breaches.

Last month Green MP Sian Berry won cross-party backing after introducing a commons motion calling on the government to scrap its ID cards plan.

She said it would ‘usher in a new era of mass surveillance’ and ‘fundamentally reverse the nature of citizens’ relationship with the state’ if introduced.

Mr Newman said: ‘Using images of Nazis and references to the atrocities of that regime to make a political point is wholly inappropriate and deeply offensive.

‘Attempting to use the Holocaust to make a political point trivialises and distorts the memory of those who perished and is offensive to the survivors and refugees we represent.

‘The Holocaust was a singular historical atrocity in which six million Jewish men, women and children were murdered because of who they were. To invoke its imagery in contemporary political debates diminishes that horror and disrespects its victims.’

Mr Trumm’s post was also criticised by Luke Murphy, MP for Basingstoke and Deane, who called the image ‘offensive’. Mr Murphy added: ‘Everyone is entitled to their own views and to debate government policies, that’s the strength of Britain’s democracy, but politicians of all parties have a responsibility to debate respectfully.’

A local Labour source added: ‘The mask has slipped, and the local Reform party have shown their true colours. Sharing imagery that appears to liken government policy to the Nazi regime is abhorrent, and it trivialises the pain and suffering of the millions of victims of the Holocaust.

‘They should apologise for this offensive post.’

Mr Trumm said that he used the picture as an example of ‘totalitarian regimes doing horrendous things’, and as a reminder that ‘we have to remember history.’

He added that digital ID, with digital currency, has caused the UK to have a ‘Chinese-style communist party’.

In 2022 he quit his job in Suffolk to spend months on the front line of Ukraine after Russia invaded.

The former army reservist told a local newspaper at the time that he spent eight months on and off in Ukraine, working on an anti-drone warfare project.

Reform UK has been contacted for comment over Mr Trumm’s post.