Nigel Farage is as fond of hyperbole as he is of private jets, but when he talks about the May 7 elections, you would be foolish to dismiss his confidence. Rather than playing games of expectation management, Reform’s leader is speaking confidently of seizing over 1,000 council seats, of winning councils across England and in Labour heartlands, of coming first in Wales and second in Scotland.
“I do genuinely think we’re at a moment of something changing on May 7 that isn’t just a short-term protest vote, it’s a genuine shapeshift in British politics. They are my realistic expectations,” he said.
If those predictions come to pass, Britain’s councils and devolved parliaments will be stuffed with people like the ones below – a collection of far right extremists, racists, Islamophobes, conspiracists and homophobes who have somehow passed Reform’s rigorous vetting.
Their presence makes a mockery of Farage’s claims in 2025 that the “few bad apples that have crept in will be gone, will be long gone, and we will never have any of their type back in our organisation.”
These 40 bad apples have remained, and now stand on the brink of victory. That would indeed bring a shapeshift in British politics, of a very unpleasant kind.
1. Andy Mahon
Candidate for Blackburn South-East ward, Lancs
Mahon wrote on Facebook about his support for British fascist Oswald Mosley (“Oswald was right 100%”), as well as using the n-word and making homophobic remarks about Wes Streeting and sexist comments about Angela Rayner and Green MP Hannah Spencer. The local Reform chairman refused to suspend him, saying “Reform UK believes in freedom of speech.”
2. Mark Lawrence
Pontypridd Cynon Merthyr, Wales
Told a hustings that childcare provision should be cut because women should stay at home to raise children rather than work, adding that all the women he knew preferred it.
3. Kate Michaela
St Mary’s ward, Adur
Shared a series of offensive Facebook posts, including one that said “every Muslim must leave the UK by 2030”, and another, linked to the Kremlin, which suggested that Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky had been groomed by paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
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4. Brett Muscroft
Castleford Central and Glasshoughton, Wakefield
Muscroft shared posts supporting Tommy Robinson, and saying that making the far right agitator criminal defence secretary would mean “we may get Great Britain back”. Some of his other shared posts described Islam as a cancer, and labelled LGBTQ+ people as mentally ill.
5. Linda McFarlane
Chopwell & Rowlands Gill, Gateshead
Posted “YOU ALL SHOULD BE SHOT” while directly tagging Keir Starmer and David Lammy. Wrote “Let them all drown” about Channel migrants and suggested turning the boats over, demanded a “white Britain” with a parliament of only “white English people”, backed Enoch Powell and “remigration”, and made racist remarks about Black people.
6. Steven Lewis
Normanton, Wakefield
Claims to be the “Lion of Judah” and that “an angel of the Most High” speaks through him. Threatened to bring “holy fire” down on anyone who gets in his way, denounced Christmas as a pagan holiday to worship Saturn and called Easter and New Year’s demonic.
7. Howard Dini
Ickenham and South Harefield, Hillingdon
Reshared a post declaring “I’m a proud ISLAMAPHOBE” (sic) and another reading “It is time to return the gun fire when the Islamists gather on their festival we should go and shoot them and as many as possible it is called an eye for an eye a tooth for a tooth.” When asked about the posts, he said: “You must be one of the few that enjoy our country being invaded and with no-go areas.”
8. Malcolm Offord
Inverclyde, Scotland
Reform’s Scottish leader made a vile homophobic joke about George Michael during a Burns Night speech, later calling it “a clumsy mistake”.
9. Senga Beresford
Galloway and West Dumfries, Scotland
Replied “me” to a post about Muslims from the deputy leader of far right Britain First, which said: “I demand that we deport the lot of them. Who’s with me?” Has also backed Tommy Robinson and Enoch Powell; Reform call her a “down-to-earth businesswoman and mum”.
10. Audrey Dempsey
Glasgow Easterhouse and Springburn, Scotland
Defected from Labour after claiming, with no evidence, that there had been a rise in “racist attacks on white children and teachers”.
11. Rachael Wright
Stirling, Scotland
Shared false claims that the former Kilgraston School in Perthshire would be “turned into migrant accommodation”, which spread widely before being debunked.
12. Peter Bucklitsch
Meads, Eastbourne
Blamed the drowning death of two-year-old Syrian refugee Aylan Kurdi, whose photo made world headlines, on his parents, claiming they were “greedy for the good life in Europe”.
13. Laura Anne Jones
Monmouthshire and Torfaen, Wales
Suspended from the Senedd last year after using a racial slur about Chinese people, she recently claimed, without evidence, that Plaid Cymru and Labour were treating the idea of children self-identifying as cats as “completely normal”.
14. Nathaniel Menday
Woodhouse, Sheffield
Posted a photo of Berlin’s Nazi-era Olympiastadion with the comment “Whichever group of people built this must have been real visionaries!” Menday has described himself as an “ethno-nationalist”.
15. Terrence David Reynolds
Queen’s Park, Swindon
Shared racist and Islamophobic content online, including posts saying “we want Muslims gone” and “let’s benefit Britain by sending them home”.
16. Alan Stay
Parkhurst and Hunnyhill, Isle of Wight
Used the n-word three times to begin a Facebook post that continued “cos its (sic) only words, not sticks and stones that brake (sic) your bones, just words that never hurt you.”
17. Ben Rowe
Ham, Plymouth
During the 2024 Southport riots, took to social media to urge protesters outside a mosque to “get rid of that filthy building”. Has accused “the Jews” of “creating division by forcing other races on our societies” and described immigrants as “breeding like rats”. Now complaining that his posts have been “taken out of context” and “my bike has been vandalised costing me hundreds”.
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18. Derek Bullock
Hulton, Bolton
Twice expelled by the Tories for Islamophobia, including a post – which he claims has been faked – after the Manchester Arena attack, saying “Shoot the Pakis on the spot.”
19. David Davies
Wanstead Village, Redbridge
Posted “I would like to see every Romanian in this country gone” and has also claimed that black people who “bang on about slavery” should “shut the f*** up”.
20. James Bembridge
West End, Westminster
Linked to controversial posts about “the visceral hatred that I have for the NHS… I want to see it torn down to the ground” and “NHS nurses who claim to be driven to using food banks when, looking at them, they are presumably eating them out of business”, as well as a post mocking the bombing of Gaza.
21. David Booth
Kenley, Croydon
Has written: “The so-called Covid-19 pandemic was a staged event, designed to enable profound changes desired by powerful forces at the expense of majority populations around the world”.
22. Caroline Panetta
Erith, Bexley
Called Islam “the religion of rape, incest and paedophilia”, accused mayor Sadiq Khan of wanting to turn the capital into “Londonstan” and said the US policeman who killed George Floyd was the victim of a miscarriage of justice.
23. Ricky Hodges
Tressell, Hastings
Posted anti-Muslim comments and said that Theresa May “needs to be hung” and Sadiq Khan “put into a coma”.
24. Daniel Devaney
Clayton and Fairweather Green, Bradford
Wrote on Facebook that he wanted to “blast [Muslims] all off the face of the earth”, describing them as “pure scum” and “potential terrorists”. Now claims: “I’m not racist as I help my Asian neighbours”.
25. Stephen Hammond
Holme Wood and Bierley, Bradford
Hammond promoted his campaign on an account used to respond to a sex worker advert and post sexist remarks about women in sport.
26. Emma Clatworthy
Pen-y-bont Bro Morgannwg, Wales
During the pandemic called for the monarch to be overthrown, saying “she’s not our Queen never has been she’s a fraud, they’re all German decent (sic)”. Also claimed “the government are actors” and that the public were “brainwashed and programmed since they started school, every thing around us is programming us”.
27. Martin Roberts
Pontypridd Cynon Merthyr, Wales
Claims that child abuse in Welsh nurseries would “skyrocket” if more women returned to work instead of “looking after their babies themselves” while “men go out and provide”.
28. Martin Costello
Badbury Park & Eldene, Swindon
Claimed on social media that NHS and care home staff “murdered” patients during the pandemic, writing: “This holocaust must not be swept under the carpet, justice must be served!” Also wrote: “The Rothschild’s (sic) patented the Covid-19 biometric tests in 2015 and 2017. They knew well in advance what they were planning to unleash in 2020!”
29. Francesca O’Brien
Gwyr Abertawe, Wales
Faced backlash for comments suggesting benefit claimants needed “putting down” and has links to hard right activists.
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30. Kenneth Morris
Erdington, Birmingham
Runs a public affairs consultancy whose clients include the leadership of Republika Srpska – the pro-Putin Bosnian Serb areas of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Is also English coordinator for far right coalition Patriots Network, linked to Tommy Robinson.
31. Glenda Hall
Tunstall & Humbledon, Sunderland
Shared Covid conspiracy content – including what she called an “interesting video” about whether it was the “hoax of the century” – and promoted material describing Afghan men as “sexual predators”.
32. Tommy Temperley
Roe Lee, Blackburn
Believes the World Economic Forum is “orchestrating” global politics, that Labour follows “orders given to them by the WEF” and that Keir Starmer is “nothing more than a puppet, doing the bidding of globalists”.
33. Leo Fruhman (also known as Ari Fruhman)
Mill Hill, Barnet
Posting under the pseudonym “Johnny Lawrence”, demanded “every Muslim out of Europe”. Called Keir Starmer a “proper cunt” and a “Muslim loving abhorrent man”. He also criticised Israel for hosting Gay Pride as “disgraceful”,
34. Paul Donaghy
Washington New Town, Sunderland
Used nationalist rhetoric and has had 10 of his companies struck off for breaching accounting rules.
35. Kenneth Morton
Perthshire North, Scotland
Liked Facebook posts from conspiracy theorist David Icke that include calling Covid-19 “a psychological hoax” that was treated with a “fake vaccine”. Has also liked posts by Sandy Hook-denier Alex Jones and Putin pal and former Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev.
36. Russell Cherry
Thurrock, Essex
Shared content from Britain First leader Paul Golding and from Tommy Robinson, both of whom are supposedly persona non grata in Reform.
37. Paul Hewson
Chadwell Heath, East London
Expressed support for Enoch Powell and posted messages backing Tommy Robinson, including that he was “not far right. just right (sic).”
38. Janine Crook
Darwen West, Blackburn
Praised Enoch Powell as “phrophetic” (sic), called Blackburn “the biggest shithole in the UK” and engaged with content from extremist activists.
39. John Clark
Bangor Conwy Môn, Wales
Fond of Kremlin talking points, and has said “I doubt the Ukraine war would have happened if Nato wasn’t pushing into Eastern Europe” and “Nato wants to bleed Russia dry and are happy to use Ukraine as an excuse.”
40. David Prior
Saltwell, Gateshead
Actually expelled by Reform after failing to disclose former membership of the BNP. But in a mark of the party’s vetting shambles, he remains on the ballot because of nomination rules.
Jack Dart is founder of reformwatch.org
