A REFORM candidate once said the country would be "far better" if it had been neutral towards the Nazis.
Ian Gribbin sparked outrage today after it was revealed he called women the "sponging gender" who should be "deprived of healthcare".
In articles on the website UnHeard, revealed by the BBC, the wannabe MP also praised Mad Vlad Putin and labelled Sir Winston Churchill "abysmal".
He issued a grovelling apology for the "upset" his words had caused.
Mr Gribbin said: “I apologise for these old comments and withdraw them unreservedly and the upset that they have caused.”
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“I myself are upset at the way these comments were taken out of context especially when my mother was the daughter of Russian Jews fleeing persecution.”
In July 2022 the Reform candidate wrote: "Britain would be in a far better state today had we taken Hitler up on his offer of neutrality…. but oh no Britain’s warped mindset values weird notions of international morality rather than looking after its own people."
In a separate piece Mr Gribbin said: "Men pay 80% of tax – women spend 80% of tax revenue. On aggregate as a group you only take from society.
"Less complaining please from the 'sponging gender'."
Responding to the shocking comments at a campaign event today, Reform boss Nigel Farage insisted he didn't have time to vet all the candidates in his party.
Mr Farage claimed the snap election caught him off guard and so selection processes were rushed.
He added that the Green party has a worse issue with problematic candidates than Reform does.
The party leader said: “We don’t have as big a problem as the Green Party - they’ve had to suspend 20 of their candidates for putting out really vile, antisemitic tweets.
“I think every party will suffer because it was a snap election.
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"We’ve put in place a big vetting programme but we ran out of time.”
Reform Chairman Richard Tice said: "We made it clear to all candidates that if people do inappropriate things, say daft things, then we will look at it and investigate it and that’s what we do.
"But what we are doing is pushing on with our agenda. The reason we are going up in the polls is that actually people like the message and that’s what we are focussed on.
"We will look at all these things but the reality is we’ve got action, momentum and we’re moving forwards."