A Reform UK candidate described the Nazis as “real visionaries”, with the party once again embroiled in a vetting scandal.
The Times reports that Nathaniel Menday, standing for Reform in Sheffield, was found to have said Berlin’s Olympiastadion was built by people who were “real visionaries.”
The stadium was built to host the 1936 Olympics and designed by Albert Speer, the munitions minister who was convicted at the Nuremberg trials of crimes against humanity.
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In January 2024, Menday, shared a picture of Berlin’s Olympiastadion and wrote: “Whichever group of people built this must have been real visionaries!”
According to the Times, Menday has also previously described himself as an “ethno-nationalist” and encouraged the use of white supremacist symbols.
In a statement to the paper he seemed to suggest the post had been an attempt at humour. Menday said he was sorry for bringing Reform “into disrepute” adding he enjoyed “risky humour and pushing boundaries”.
“I am not antisemitic nor do I have any Nazi sympathies,” he said.
But the incident is one of several instances of troubling posts by Reform candidates. The Times reports that Menday is one of eight candidates being investigated by Reform over posts identified by the Times, with the party accused of a “systematic failure” in its vetting.
Another example is that of Ben Rowe, a Reform candidate standing in Plymouth, who urged protesters throwing bricks at police defending a mosque to “get rid of that filthy building” during the 2024 Southport riots.
He also accused “the Jews” of “creating division by forcing other races on our societies” and labelled Islam a “cancer.”
Meanwhile, David Davies, a Reform candidate in east London, said putting black people in positions of power would be “disastrous” and described Muslims as “by far the biggest group of fraudsters”.
Other candidates expressed support for Tommy Robinson and shared conspiracy theories around Covid.
Kevin Hollinrake, the chairman of the Conservative Party, called on Reform to “urgently explain what vetting was carried out on these candidates and what action will now be taken”.
“This litany of antisemitism, Islamophobia, ethno-nationalism and homophobia will rightly raise serious questions about Reform UK’s judgment and standards. This is not just a handful of poor choices — it points to a systemic failure,” Hollinrake said.
“The British public will rightly ask how individuals expressing such extreme views were ever approved to stand.”
After the 2024 general election, Reform leader Nigel Farage had said the party had significantly enhanced its candidate vetting process.
This was after Reform had to drop a number of its general election candidates over offensive comments on social media.