Reform UK is working “very hard” to vet “dodgy candidates” ahead of the council elections next May, GB News can exclusively reveal.
It comes as Nigel Farage’s party is expected to win scores of seats following a string of successful by-elections and favourable opinion polls.
In our analysis of the latest opinion poll, Farage would snatch 95 seats and overtake Labour for the first time if an election was held tomorrow.
This expectation is bringing increased scrutiny to the party.
Tory veteran Tim Montgomerie is mindful of this now he has defected to Reform, going so far as to say this is “the beginning of their problem”.
Tory veteran Tim Montgomerie is mindful of the increased scrutiny Reform will face
GB News
He told GB News: “They [Reform] have had a problem in the past with certain dodgy candidates getting through. So the party must vet candidates so that they don’t have one good May [election] with lots of candidates being elected only to find out those same candidates cause trouble over the following months.”
Montgomerie added: “Vetting those candidates will be at least as important as getting them elected.”
His concerns are not unfounded. Reform UK, previously known as the Brexit Party, has been embroiled in several controversies regarding its candidates.
For example, candidates Edward Oakenfull, Robert Lomas, and Leslie Lilley were all dropped by Reform over offensive comments, but due to the timing, they remained on the ballot paper.
And Steven Beatty, former candidate for Didcot & Wantage, was outed by The Times as being one of 41 Reform candidates connected on Facebook with the leader of the British fascists Gary Raikes.
When GB News put these concerns to Reform MP for South Basildon and East Thurrock James McMurdock, he said: “We’re taking that very, very seriously.”
He acknowledged that there’s no “quick answer”, especially as Reform “encourages people to step forward so we have the widest and biggest pool of candidates” ahead of the upcoming elections.
However, the party is “conscious” of quality rising in lockstep with quantity, particularly as it looks to become a credible alternative to the two main parties, McMurdock tells GB News.
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Reform UK MP James McMurdock tells GB News that his party is ‘working very hard’ to vet candidates
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“We recognise that we’ve been rightly under the microscope and that individuals in the past have harmed us because their conduct was not appropriate. So we’re working very, very hard now.”
The Reform MP added that this also applies to politicians already in Westminster.
He said: “We recognise that there could be candidates from existing parties who are just looking to save their own skin. We’re very, very conscious of that. And just because someone wants to defect to us does not mean we accept them.
“In fact, it may not be widely understood, but there are conversations that have been had in the background where we have decided other people are not right for us.