When, last October, Keir Starmer made a comment calling Reform’s immigration policies “racist”, Nigel Farage reacted by hysterically accusing the prime minister of seeking to incite violence against him.
The Reform leader said Starmer’s comments “will incite and encourage the radical left” and claimed he had descended “into the gutter”, while his then head of policy, Zia Yusuf, claimed that if anything happened to Farage, Starmer would be responsible.
Deputy leader Richard Tice went even further, telling broadcasters how Starmer had “literally used the word ‘arms’, ‘take up arms and attack, go for the enemy’,” and “gave licence to Antifa yesterday to take up arms”, despite the fact that the prime minister had said no such thing.
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Still, at least Reform wouldn’t stoop to that level… apart from this week, as Yusuf, now the party’s ludicrously titled ‘shadow home secretary’ despite not even being a member of Parliament, sought to quietly persuade Labour MPs to defy the party whip and vote for Starmer to face an inquiry into whether he misled them over the appointment of Lord Mandelson as US ambassador.
“Friendly note to Labour MPs ahead of the vote tomorrow to decide if Starmer should face an ethics probe,” Yusuf wrote on, inevitably, X. “If you vote against it, Reform will carpet bomb your constituency to ensure all your constituents know you voted to save the most unpopular PM of all time. Vote wisely.”
So, say an immigration policy is racist and you’re encouraging people to take up arms. But actual “carpet bombing” is fine!
It’s not the first time in recent months Reform have displayed a selective policy over when inciting violence is fine or not. In February Simon Evans, deputy leader of Lancashire County Council, shared a Facebook post about Natalie Fleet, the MP for Bolsover in Derbyshire, containing a misattributed quote suggesting she had voted against having an inquiry into grooming gangs and saying “YOU DOZY COW……YOU SHOULD BE SHOT”.
Party bosses dismissed that, saying that sharing material calling for the murder of an MP was a “genuine mistake that we can all make from time to time”.
Meanwhile, what did Tice say last October about Elon Musk, who did literally call for violence against political opponents when he spoke via video link at Tommy Robinson’s far-right march on London?
“There’s a difference between free speech and inciting violence,” harrumphed the Reform man, backing Musk all the way.
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