Reform UK by-election candidate touts conspiracy theories in rambling 2018 video

30 April 2024 , 20:00

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Reform UK candidate for Blackpool South, Mark Butcher, left, posing with party leader Richard Tice, right (Image: Getty Images)

Reform UK's candidate in a crunch by-election previously engaged with a host of conspiracy theories on his YouTube account, the Mirror can disclose.

Mark Butcher is standing for the right-wing outfit in the Blackpool South on Thursday, in a contest triggered by the departure of ex-Tory MP Scott Benton after a lobbying scandal. The local charity worker was unveiled as Reform UK's candidate on March 28 by Lee Anderson, who defected to the party from the Tories earlier this year.

In a video posted on his YouTube account in 2018, Mr Butcher talks for 15 minutes about a string of conspiracy theories and urges his followers to "get real people, wakey wakey, red pill time". The clip, entitled "Don't mug me off", appears to show Mr Butcher in a stationary car in a dark car park, where he says: "It’s the wide awake club I’m afraid, and once you’re in, you’re in. If you wake up you’re awake."

He warns listeners to “do your research folks" about issues such as Agenda 21, a UN sustainability resolution that conspiracy theorists believe is trying to create an eco-totalitarian regime, and the Kalergi Agreement, a debunked far right theory about a plot to replace white Europeans with other races.

Mr Butcher also outlines some theories of his own in the clip, such as the idea that the CIA made TVs to put people to sleep so they wouldn’t be alert to these conspiracies. He suggests the Government gets a person's weight in gold, which it can then trade on the NASDAQ stock exchange every time they sign a document, and labels the DVLA an “evil entity”.

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He urges the audience to understand that “some of these theories that the patriots are putting out there, lets say some of them are true, there is no point burying our head in the sand”.

A Reform UK spokesman said: "This is clearly some very late night philosophical ramblings about the state of the nation 5 1/2 years ago. He raises questions about a number of matters, while accepting that they are all questionable and conspiracy theories, dismisses voting for the main parties and UKIP, but pledges to fight against division and that he isn't going to give up on the country."

Lizzy Buchan