Reform scandals

Reform UK has ongoing scandals from its MPs, candidates and supporters.

Reform UK MPs

Nigel Farage

• 2024 Riots – Farage posted disinformation on social media about the UK riots in 2024 regarding if the truth about the attacker was being withheld by police and speculated that the suspect was known by the security services. Then a few days he posted a video on social media to avoid responsibility for the far-right violence and distract and divert blame to others. Polling in the weeks after the riots found that half thought that Farage was responsible for the riots.
• In 2024, Farage was caught hiding foreign political gifts because they show his links to far-right groups in the US and his failure to be in his parliamentary constituency.
• Teflon Nigel – Scandals bounce off Farage because he poses as an outsider, so every scandalous revelation can be presented as a desperate attack on him by the elite, who are presented as shutting down the voice of the people.

Rupert Lowe was elected as a Reform UK MP in 2024 and in March 2025 was accused of bullying and threatening behaviour towards Reform party colleagues, and is no longer a Reform MP and reported to the police. It looks likely that this was the response to Lowe criticising Farage in an interview. Then it look likely that Lowe was lying about communications with the Reform lawyer.  This civil war has forced supporters to pick a side. Many are hoping that this will fatally weaken Reform but we can’t assume this, they will likely bounce back, Farage is good at this.

James (woman beater) McMurdock was expectantly elected as a Reform UK MP in 2024 and has a violent past, involving an assault where he pleaded guilty to kicking a woman while she was on the ground. Initially, Reform UK claimed to have known about the conviction but downplayed its relevance. However, as details emerged, Farage attempted to distance the party from the scandal, suggesting the party hadn’t properly vetted McMurdock. (State of Hate P26-29)

Reform UK dodgy operations

Has Reform UK been stealing data from those visiting its website? It is reported by the Guardian that Reform UK tracked users’ browsing data without consent, sending sensitive information to Facebook’s parent company, Meta. The tool, active for at least two years, captured details like viewed pages and clicked buttons, including potentially revealing political beliefs. The party, which claims to prioritize privacy, removed the tracker after being contacted. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is investigating the breach in the summer of 2024. Experts raised ethical concerns about digital surveillance, as such data can be used for targeted political ads, potentially influencing voter behaviour without proper consent, violating data protection laws. 

Did ‘invisible’ Reform UK candidates have affected the outcome of 6 seats in the 2024 general election? During the election, Reform UK was accused of standing multiple ‘invisible’ candidates. The election watchdog, the Electoral Commission received a flood on complains with a spokesperson for the commission stating it was a police matter. Reform UK stated that all candidates were real. To illustrate the weakness of UK election rules a YouTuber stood in 11 different seats. Bylines Times found that Reform ‘invisible’ candidates may of decided the outcome of at least six seats in the general election: “Byline Times has uncovered half a dozen seats where Reform candidates, who appeared to have no public photos or biographies in the run-up to the election, secured more votes than the margin between the winning party and the runners-up.”

Reform UK is facing legal action from two former employees who claim they were summarily sacked being owed thousands in back pay. The employees have filed legal complaints and Reform  said the employees had “attempted to bring legal claims against the party based on what we have reason to believe are fraudulent and forged ‘employment contracts” (Sources: https://youtu.be/dTL1t86GGiA?si=N4qc3EbieX5eiYXj, https://archive.ph/4O17Y#selection-2151.0-2151.169) 

Controversial Reform UK activists and campaigners

Reform UK is riddled with racism, sexism, homophobia, bigotry and extreme far-right views. 

During the 2024 election campaign:

• a Reform UK candidate said that Britain should have taken up the Nazis’ “offer of neutrality” rather than fighting World War Two. 
• The Reform UK’s party spokesperson agreed, saying it was “probably true”. 
• One Reform UK councillor shared posts that spread racist conspiracy theories about “Zionist controllers” and “Jewish supremacism”. 
• Another of their councillors defended a politician who described the Covid-19 vaccination as “the biggest crime against humanity since the Holocaust”. (Stand up to Racism factsheet)
• An undercover investigation in Farage’s seat Clacton found evidence of Reform activists being racist, homophobic and breaking campaign spending limits.
• Reform UK candidates and activists have been running a network of Facebook groups spreading misinformation, conspiracy theories and Islamophobia.
• A Reform canvasser was caught on camera using racist language about the prime minister Rishi Sunak, and saying the army should “just shoot” asylum seekers crossing the Channel.

Reform UK activists conspiratorial views:

• Lee O’Shea, Reform’s County Organiser for the West Midlands, is a firm believer in the conspiracy cult QAnon, as well as the ravings of David Icke and Alex Jones. 
• Sarah Morris, chair of Reform’s Isle of Wight East branch, appears to be greatly concerned by the “chemtrails” theory, which holds that governments around the world are secretly spraying their citizens with toxic fumes disguised in the vapour trails of aeroplanes. 
• Steve Rubidge, chair of Reform’s Truro and Falmouth branch is a conspiratorial anti-vaxxer and appears to believe that there is evidence of a conspiracy to control the weather. 

(Source: HOPE not hate State of Hate 2025 p38-9)

Reform UK is full of racists

Farage’s Stance on Racism and Reform UK:

• Farage has made dozens of objectively racists and xenophobic public comments over the years (see here)
• Farage claims that Reform UK is a “non-racist” party, despite many instances of racist comments or actions from party members. Farage tends to distance himself from these incidents, often claiming they are “moles” or not representative of the party.
• His comments about London being “unrecognizable as being English” were clearly xenophobic and racist. (see this video on Farage’s racism)

Reform UK campaigners, activists and supporters have all been caught making racist comments, (see here)

Reform UK has a misogyny problem

Reform welcomed Aiden Burley even though he has said that women are a drain on society and the party also defended his views as “truths.” (Burley organised the famous Nazi themed party. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OH-gvzn6cwk&t=132s)

See Farage misogynist comments. 

See Reform UK campaigners and activists misogynist comments.

Reform MP Lee Anderson has made dismissive comments about women dealing with biological issues like menstruation, pregnancy, and menopause which reveal a lack of empathy and understanding. He attempted to trivialize these issues by defending men’s issues related to the “Battle of the Somme” during World War One