Reform UK has ditched an election candidate after claims emerged he fantasised about deporting “millions” of British citizens to “rid itself of the foreign plague we have been diseased with.”
Benjamin “Beau” Dade was sacked as Reform UK’s candidate for Swindon South after campaign group HOPE not hate revealed he published an extreme “policy roadmap” for The Mallard website, which the campaign group described as "a little-read far-right outlet". The publication, which was published online in late 2022, called for “millions of foreigners and their dependents” to be expelled from the country.
He also demanded "some form of purge" of civil servants and judges, who he said were "corrupted by traitors" and “a cancer which must be cut out, regardless of the disruption it causes”. Describing his policy paper, Mr Dade said: “The reality of this policy will inevitably be messy. Whole families crying and shrieking and being violent and destructive when they are being detained. This is just one more unfortunate horror which the leftists and globalists and traitors have forced upon us.”
He called for a number of "seditious and revolutionary" organisations to be banned including HOPE not hate, the BBC, Channel 4, the Guardian, the Mail Group, Stonewall, Care for Calais and the Institute for Strategic Dialogue.
HOPE not hate said Mr Dade is currently working full-time as a content creator for a media outlet called the Lotus Eaters. Videos of him on the website include one in which he said "every town, city and town is filled with foreign interlopers" and said Enoch Powell had "undersold" the situation. He has interviewed Reform UK leader Richard Tice and his deputy Ben Habib for the outlet.
Michelle Mone's husband gifted Tories 'over £171k' as Covid PPE row rumbles onThe BBC was forced to apologise earlier this week for referring to Reform UK as "far right" in a news report. The party was first founded by Nigel Farage and was previously called the Brexit party. Its current leader Mr Tics said: “There are very significant implications of calling a political party, and by implication, its leader and senior leadership team far right."
But Hope not hate suggested that selecting candidates like Mr Dade did not help the party's case. Nick Lowles, chief executive of HOPE not hate, said: “It is right that Reform UK have dropped Benjamin Dade as their candidate. However, if Reform UK wants to avoid being labelled as far right, they should perhaps work harder at keeping the likes of Dade from their list of candidates.”
A Reform spokesman said: “We sacked him. It was brought to our attention and we acted quickly, unlike other parties. We don’t want to be represented by someone like that.”
Mr Dade posted HOPE not hate's report on Twitter with the comment: "I stand by every word."