Thursday was defined by sweeping gains for Reform UK, which ultimately gained control of 10 councils, two mayoralties, and won 677 seats. Farage’s party also won the Westminster by-election for Runcorn and Helsby – one of Labour’s safest seats.
Mark Broadhurst, who was elected as a councillor in the Hatfield ward of Doncaster, reposted an image of Hitler with the caption: “For f*** sake, if I had chosen Muslims I would have been a f***ing legend [sic].”
Mark Broadhurst, councillor in the Hatfield ward of Doncaster, reposted an meme of Hitler. (Hope Not Hate)[Missing Credit]
Meanwhile Steve Plater, who became a councillor for the Adwick-le-Street and Carcroft ward, reposted articles from Patriotic Alternative (PA), a far-right organisation – described as neo-Nazi by Hope Not Hate – that is banned from several social media platforms.
Hope Not Hate describes Patriotic Alternative as a far-right, neo-Nazi organisation. (Hope Not Hate)[Missing Credit]
The organisation was the subject of a year-long investigation by BBC News, which uncovered its members’ extreme views regarding migration, including one who reportedly said of immigrants who refused deportation: “The only way to get rid of them will be to kill every single one of them.”
Plater has reposted six PA articles on his Facebook page, according to Home not Hate. One reportedly claimed: “We are now living under a multicultural and anti-White tyranny.”
He has also allegedly written that Muslims “can’t wash off the smell of donkeys” and “cook over burning camel sh*t”.
Guy Aston, who was elected in the Wheatley Hills & Intake ward, liked a Facebook post promoting the so-called “Kalergi Plan”, a conspiracy theory that claims immigration is a deliberate tool used to replace white European populations.
He liked a post blaming Jewish banking families – the Rothschilds, Warburgs and Baruchs – for “funding Kalergi’s genocidal ideology”.
The 'Kalergi Plan' is a conspiracy theory that claims immigration is a tool used to replace white Europeans. (Hope Not Hate)[Missing Credit]
Meanwhile, Howard Rimmer, elected in the Roman Ridge ward, has repeatedly shared material from the Traditional Britain Group (TBG), another far-right organisation.
“We are importing low IQ people and when they commit heinous crimes they are given more lenient sentences by the Judges [sic],” said one of his reposts of the TBG.
“They come from shit countries and want everything that we have built,” said one post shared by him.
Rimmer has also allegedly called for a boycott of “unChristian” shops and praised both Tommy Robinson and Anne Marie Waters, an anti-Islam activist.
The Campaign Against Antisemitism told the JC that Farage’s party had a “lot more work to do” in terms of vetting candidates.
"Clearly this social media activity is troubling and, in some cases, draws on obvious antisemitic tropes.
“The old excuse that Reform is a nascent party with limited vetting resources is starting to wear thin after it won hundreds of council seats last week.”
In last year’s general election, the BBC revealed that the party’s Bexhill and Battle parliamentary candidate said Britain would be "far better" if it had "taken Hitler up on his offer of neutrality" instead of fighting the Nazis.
Referring to Ian Gribbon, Farage ensured in September 2024 that the candidates for the 2025 local elections would be “vetted”.
"I had no idea how bad it was. I had no idea that half of these people simply haven't been vetted - that's got to change,” he told the BBC.
Speaking at his party’s conference in Birmingham in September, he put bad candidates down to the nascent stage of the party.
We are just at that stage of our development, we weren’t big enough, wealthy enough, professional enough to vet general election candidates properly,” he said.
“And we were let down – that amateurism let us down. We could have won a lot more votes and there are lessons that we need to learn from that.”
Responding to the JC’s request, Aston said that liking a post about the Kalergi Plan “has nothing to do with Zionism”, that the theory was “bunkem”, and accused Hope Not Hate of “trying to spice it up.” He said, “I am a strong advocate for Israel.” Broadhurst, Plater, Rimmer and Reform UK were approached for comment.
