Reform UK now have an apologist for Putin and Assad in charge of vetting.
It’s getting worse for Reform UK. The right-wing party has decided to appoint an election candidate who said Hitler was “brilliant” at inspiring people and who described Bashar al-Assad as “gentle by nature” in charge of the party’s vetting process.
Reform was heavily criticised at the last general election for failing to vet its candidates, after it had to remove more than 100 general election candidates since the start of the year, more than a dozen of whom were sacked after offensive and racist comments were revealed.
In one such example, it had been revealed that one of its candidates posted in a blog that the country would be “far better” if it had “taken Hitler up on his offer of neutrality” instead of fighting the Nazis in World War Two, leading to widespread outrage and condemnation.
It had been revealed by the BBC that Ian Gribbin, the party’s candidate in Bexhill and Battle made the posts in 2022.
Reform has decided to put someone in charge of vetting who themselves was widely condemned for past comments.
Jack Aaron’s comments about the Nazi leader and Syrian dictator came to light last year when he stood for Reform in the Welwyn Hatfield constituency. He also claimed Vladimir Putin’s use of force in Ukraine was “legitimate”.
The Guardian reports: “Aaron made the comments as part of a pseudoscientific theory of personality types. He is the president of the self-styled World Socionics Society – a group promoting the idea that there are 16 personality types.
“However, while he was one of many Reform candidates whose comments caused controversy and led to many being sacked, he is now head of vetting at Reform UK.”
Reform UK now have an apologist for Putin and Assad in charge of vetting.
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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