Reform UK candidate sacked over memes

THE Reform UK parliamentary candidate for the Henley and Thame seat has been withdrawn over his “offensive” posts on social media.

David Carpin, an IT worker from Woodcote, was sacked live on GB News by his party leader after he was asked about the Facebook posts, which comprised memes and cartoons.

These included a photo of the European Union flag with the stars replaced with swastikas, a collage of three non-binary or transgender public figures and Adolf Hitler with the quote: “[The] room is completely engulfed in flames, you can only save one...” and cartoons depicting transgender women as “mentally ill men”.

Another showed the date July 1, the first day after June, which is gay pride month, and a cartoon of a man sweeping the Pride flag into a gutter with the caption: “It’s July and Pride is a sin.”

Richard Tice, who leads Reform UK, a right-wing, Eurosceptic party founded with support from Nigel Farage in 2018, sacked Mr Carpin live on air after being questioned about him by GB News presenters Bev Turner and Andrew Pierce.

He said: “So he has posted some inappropriate and frankly daft stuff. We’re a serious political party and I’ve told our candidates, you don’t put daft stuff up there.

“He’s an ex-candidate. I’ve fired him. He’s not a candidate and that’s the point.

“I’m a serious leader that will take decisions immediately when they need to be taken. He’s gone. He’s done. Finished.

“And people need to learn a lesson that: ‘Look, you’ve got freedom of expression, that’s the joy of being in a democracy like ours, but I’ve also got freedom of choice as to who is going to be my candidate and he’s not going to be one of them’.”

When asked if he was concerned about his party’s vetting process, Mr Tice said: “He was vetted before this and then at some point, I don’t know, he has done something daft, written something daft, post-the vetting procedure. They’ve all been told: ‘Don’t do this stuff and if you do, you’re going to be fired’. It’s as simple as that. We’ve got lots more candidates — great candidates — applying.”

Mr Carpin told the Henley Standard he wasn’t upset about his dismissal.

He said: “It’s no big deal. It’s more a problem for the voting public that under their own constitution they no longer have any form of freedom of speech or expression. There is no party out there that will support their constitutional rights.”

Mr Carpin said the posts, which he did not create himself, were shared to provoke discussion.

“All of these are within the law,” he said. “They are intended to get a discussion about certain organisations. Nothing is about private individuals.

“We have freedom of expression so we can go to the market place of ideas. What I am looking for is individuals to come back with their opinions on things.”

He said the post comparing the EU to Nazi Germany was a statement that some see the union as a “dictatorship”.

Caroline Newton, the Conservative candidate, described his posts as “contemptible”. She said: “Freedom, including freedom of speech, is something millions died for last century. Invoking Adolf Hitler and Nazi symbols in defence of it is staggeringly insensitive and contemptible.”

A spokesman for Reform UK said a new candidate would be selected.