The party’s vetting and candidate selection failures keep coming thick and fast
Reform UK selected a woman who died last year to run as their candidate for the Croydon Mayor election in 2026.
Sharon Carby sadly died in September 2024. Despite her no longer being alive, Reform HQ reportedly parachuted Carby in as the election candidate to challenge the Tory incumbent Jason Perry.
Independent news website Inside Croydon, who broke the story, reported that at a selection meeting some Reform members pointed out that her death could be a problem and were “abused and ordered to be quiet”.
According to local Reform sources, some of the older members attending the meeting had had some alcohol, and they became abusive.
At the meeting, one member, apparently unaware Carby had passed away, said of Carby: “I haven’t met her but I’ve been told she’s absolutely brilliant!”.
They described Carby as “A working-class patriot from Bradford!”, and said that she had been chosen following a “majority vote” from an “ExCom” (executive committee) meeting at Millbank Tower, the party’s headquarters.
Carby’s X account is littered with anti-migrant rhetoric, blaming “open door immigration” for the country’s problems. In her bio on X, she declares support for Nigel Farage, far-right activist Tommy Robinson and Donald Trump.
It is suggested that Carby was in the running to be Reform’s parliamentary candidate for Bradford South in 2024, “but quietly refused due to her ill-health”, which indicates Reform HQ was at least aware Carby wasn’t well.
While the Conservatives picked their mayoral candidate last year, and the Lib Dems, Labour and Greens all announced their candidates earlier this year, Reform has only just launched its search for another candidate.
Reform’s recruitment ad states: “No prior political experience is necessary, but you must be talented, have a track record solving problems in the real world and be deeply patriotic. Most of all you must have a huge passion for improving the lives of the people of Croydon.”
This isn’t the first time Reform has selected a deceased candidate. Last year, Reform HQ dropped Tommy Cawkwell as a parliamentary candidate for being “inactive”. It transpired that he was in fact dead.
Reform’s vetting and candidate selection failures keep coming thick and fast.
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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