James Orr is friends with JD Vance and said the US Capitol Riot in January 2021 was exaggerated by the “global left”
Nigel Farage has appointed a friend of JD Vance and hardline anti-abortionist James Orr, as his senior adviser.
Orr, an associate professor in Theology at the University of Cambridge, has been influential in Donald Trump’s administration.
Orr opposes abortion at any stage of pregnancy, including in cases of rape.
He also referred to asylum seekers as “invaders”. In an interview with the European Conservative, he said: “No civilisation has invited invaders in, put them up in four-star hotels, and given them all the money they can possibly want.”
Orr said he was friends with the late right-wing activist Charlie Kirk, who was also close to Trump.
Kirk was assassinated on 10 September, while addressing a group of students on the campus of Utah Valley University.
The academic said that the US Capitol Riot on 6 January 2021 was exaggerated by the “left-wing media”.
A mob of Trump supporters who wanted to overturn Trump’s 2020 election defeat were behind the Capitol attack. Kirk’s organisation Turning Point USA was involved in the attack.
Kirk bragged about sending 80 buses of supporters to the rally, which descended into a riot.
More than 1,500 people were convicted in connection with the riot, but Trump pardoned them all when became President for the second time on 20 January this year.
His posts on X often describe ethnic diversity as “disastrous demographic change” in the UK.
Orr is also chair of the pro-Reform UK think tank Centre for a Better Britain (CFABB).
The Financial Times referred to CFABB, which aims to build policy for Reform and attract US donors, as a “MAGA-style think tank” .
The think tank has endorsed cutting state funding for the NHS, scrapping DEI and reducing immigration.
A Labour spokesperson said: “Reform’s embrace of figures like James Orr tells you everything you need to know about the direction their party is taking. His opposition to abortion even in cases of rape and his description of asylum seekers as ‘invaders’ are extreme even by the standards of contemporary right-wing politics.”
Lib Dem deputy leader Daisy Cooper warned: “This appointment confirms what we’ve always known: Reform UK is just a British franchise of Donald Trump’s Maga movement.
“We can all see what is happening in Trump’s America. We cannot stand by and let this become Farage’s Britain.”
Green Party leader Zack Polanski said: “Reform UK’s decision to welcome James Orr as a senior advisor to Nigel Farage is further evidence that Farage is embracing dangerous and divisive right wing ideology.
“By choosing someone close to JD Vance to be by his side – someone who describes asylum seekers as ‘invaders’ and someone who is anti abortion – he is signalling that Reform UK has nothing to offer but fuel for divisive, inflammatory politics.”
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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