By Becky Morton, Political reporter
Reform UK has dropped three of its candidates following reports they had made offensive comments, a spokesperson has confirmed.
However, Edward Oakenfull, who is standing in Derbyshire Dales; Robert Lomas, a candidate in Barnsley North, and Leslie Lilley, standing in Southend East and Rochford, will still appear on the ballot paper as Reform candidates as it is too late for them to be removed.
It comes after leader Nigel Farage disowned the candidates during an appearance on BBC Question Time on Friday evening, when their remarks were put to him.
Mr Farage told the programme: “I want nothing to do with them.”
Warning: This story contains language that may offend
Mr Oakenfull posted derogatory comments about the IQ of sub-Saharan Africans on social media last year. He previously told the BBC the remarks had been taken out of context.
Robert Lomas reportedly said black people should “get off [their] lazy arses” and stop acting “like savages”. The comments were reported by the Times on 8 June, with Reform at the time claiming they were “out of context part quotations” and it needed more time to respond.
Leslie Lilley reportedly described people arriving on small boats as “scum” in a social media post, adding: “I hope your family get robbed, beaten or attacked.”
Asked about the comments on a BBC Question Times Leaders’ Special, Mr Farage said: “You get people in all parties saying bad things and wrong things.”
However, he argued this was partly the consequence of having to find candidates quickly following the surprise announcement that there would be a general election in July.
Since the start of the general election campaign, Reform has faced persistent questions over its selection of candidates, after numerous examples of offensive social media posts emerged.
All the main parties have had to drop potential parliamentary candidates over inappropriate comments, however this has been the case for more Reform candidates than other parties.
The party has blamed a company it hired to conduct background checks on would-be candidates, claiming it failed to carry out vetting before the election was called.
Mr Farage also faced angry questions from the audience about a recording broadcast by Channel 4 which showed Andrew Parker, a canvasser for Reform UK, using a racist term about Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
On Friday Mr Sunak said it made him “angry” that his daughters had to see a Reform campaigner using racist language about him.
The Reform leader described the comments as a “tirade of invective abuse” but suggested the man may have been paid, also suggesting it was “a political setup of astonishing proportions”.
Channel 4 News said it stood by its “rigorous and duly impartial journalism”, adding that it met Mr Parker for the first time at Reform UK party headquarters and had not paid him any money.
In a statement, Mr Parker said he wanted to “apologise profusely to Nigel Farage and the Reform Party if my personal views have reflected badly on them and brought them into disrepute as this was not my intention”.
Essex Police have said they are “urgently assessing” comments in the programme “to establish if there are any criminal offences”.
