Reform UK candidate defects to Conservatives over racist remarks

A Reform UK general election candidate has defected to the Conservatives, the second in the past week to quit the populist party following a backlash over racist remarks by some of its activists.

Georgie David, Reform’s candidate in West Ham and Beckton in east London, said on Tuesday that she would suspend her campaign with immediate effect.

In a statement issued by the Conservative party, David said that while the leadership of Reform was not racist, the vast majority of the party’s candidates were “racist, misogynistic, and bigoted”. “I do not wish to be directly associated with people who hold such views,” David said.

Despite her defection, which will boost Tory morale as the governing party seeks to curb the number of voters switching to Reform, David will appear on the ballot paper for the rightwing party on Thursday because the deadline for registration has passed.

Reform said it was “disappointed” and disagreed with David’s “sweeping comments”. “We find it sad and strange that she chose not to bring up any of her concerns with the party leadership,” the party added.

David’s decision is a fresh blow for the party after its candidate in Erewash, Liam Booth-Isherwood, said on Sunday he would back the Tories because of “reports of widespread racism and sexism” among Reform’s candidates.

The party, now led by founder Nigel Farage, is polling at about 16 per cent nationally and could cost the Tories dozens of seats by splitting the rightwing vote, according to Financial Times analysis of polling data.

But the party’s handling of a row over racist remarks by candidates and activists could negatively affect its performance on Thursday.

Reform came under fresh fire from across the political spectrum last week when one of its activists in Clacton, the seat that Farage is contesting, told an undercover Channel 4 reporter that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was a “fucking P*ki”.

Media reports have flagged dozens of candidates and party officials reportedly making misogynistic, homophobic and racist comments.

Others have praised Hitler’s leadership acumen and suggested that Britain should have been neutral in the second world war.

Sunak said the use of a racial slur against him was “racist and appalling” and condemned Farage for describing the remarks only as “inappropriate”. The activist’s remarks were also criticised by Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer.

Farage told Times Radio on Monday: “Nobody is angrier than I am, particularly as we’re doing so well with Black and ethnic minority voters.” He said there were “some bad apples in a start-up”, adding: “They’re gone.”

A YouGov survey found that Reform had 7 per cent of support among ethnic minority Britons, above the Liberal Democrats on 6 per cent but well below Labour on 53 per cent and the Conservatives on 14 per cent.