Nigel Farage has claimed “sometimes people lie” as he defended Reform UK’s vetting process following a series of “abhorrent” incidents involving party candidates.
The Reform UK leader was asked about the strength of the party’s vetting procedures days after a Welsh Senedd candidate stepped down when a picture of him appearing to do a Nazi salute surfaced online.
It came after a series of other incidents, which also included another candidate branding the former Scottish first minister Humza Yousaf an “Islamist moron”.
But at a press conference on Tuesday, Mr Farage claimed there is more scrutiny on his candidates than “of any other party”, but conceded the vetting process had not been up to scratch in the past.
“I accept that in the last general election, basically there was no vetting really, or no proper vetting,” he said.
“But I came into the general election too late for any of that to be effective, and prior to that, the party did not have the resources. I accept that has left a bit of a millstone from then, but I think you’ll find we’re doing pretty well.”
Speaking about the party’s process, he said candidates are asked “to tell us the truth” and to hand over their social media handles for checks.
“We do all those things. Sometimes people lie you, and they might be using social media handles that you have no way of finding, just as one example,” he said.
“The absolute truth is that this is a massive set of elections. There are up to 5000 seats through Scotland, Wales, and London council seats around the country, and every single party will have difficulties with some of their candidates.”
His comments came after photos of Corey Edwards appearing to show him performing a Nazi salute, reportedly taken at least six years ago, emerged online hours after he announced his candidacy.
It prompted criticism from political opponents who branded the picture “utterly disgraceful” and criticised the standard of Reform UK's electoral candidates.
Mr Edwards apologised for the image, telling The Independent: “A photo from many years ago has been shared that I recognise looks bad and could be misinterpreted.
“There is a clear distinction between ordinary use of the appalling gesture, compared with me imitating a Welsh footballer’s use of it, or indeed Basil Fawlty’s walk.”
Just days earlier, Reform was forced to suspend Chris Parry, its Hampshire mayoral candidate, after he appeared to liken a Jewish neighbourhood watch group to “Islamists on horseback” following an arson attack on Jewish community ambulances.
Reform UK’s home affairs spokesman also defended the party’s vetting process, which Mr Farage previously vowed to improve.
Asked about the party’s vetting processes, Zia Yusuf told the BBC on Sunday: “Obviously, all of that’s abhorrent and the party’s taken action on that.
“Reform has vetted over 8,000 candidates over the last couple of years. Even if our success rate is 99.9 per cent, a handful will slip through.”
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