Image source, Reform Party
- author, Harry Farley
- role, BBC News Political Correspondent
Reform UK’s parliamentary candidate for Badenoch constituency has stood down after it emerged he had previously urged people to vote for the BNP.
The party’s candidate in Essex, North West, Grant St Clair Armstrong, told BBC News he had “never supported the BNP” and said he had been forced to quit the party.
“I wanted the people to decide,” he said.
But a Reform UK spokesman said: “Following the discovery of unacceptable and historic social media comments, Ms St Clair-Armstrong has offered to resign.”
In comments first reported by The Times, Ms St Clair-Armstrong wrote on her website: “Every time I pick up a British newspaper and read an update on the state of the UK I am now nearly in tears. I have no doubt Enoch Powell would do the same if he were alive today. My solution is… vote BNP!”
St Clair-Armstrong told BBC News he made the comments between 2004 and 2007 and was an “angry man” at the time.
“I have never supported the BNP. I think they are a disgusting organisation,” he said.
Asked if he chose to resign, he said he was forced to do so by the party.
“To be honest, I would not have resigned. I wanted the people to decide.”
Ms St Clair-Armstrong will appear on the ballot paper as a Reform UK candidate, as the deadline for nominations has passed, but would run as an independent if elected.
The Times reported that comments on his website also included racist language and jokes about “female hormones.”
The paper said that in a blog under the name “Joli Triste”, Ms St Clair-Armstrong wrote that Scottish politician Kenny MacAskill had wished them serious illness.
Commenting on the Chilcot inquiry into the Iraq war, he wrote: “The easy solution is to extradite Blair…” [and] “We’re sending the abhorrent Alistair Campbell to a country where torture and execution are commonplace.”
“I deeply regret the comments I made many years ago and I regret that some people felt the need to seek out those comments when I am not the person I was back then,” he said Sunday.
A Reform UK spokesman said: “Following the revelations about unacceptable past comments made on social media, St Clair-Armstrong has offered to resign as a member of Reform UK and we have accepted his resignation.”
List of candidates running in North West Essex:
- Kemi Badenoch – Conservative Party
- Eric Bonino – Independent
- Edward Gildea – Green
- Andrew Green – Independent
- Niko Omilana – Independent
- Smita Rajesh – Liberal Democratic Party
- Grant St Clair Armstrong – Reform UK
- Issie White – Labour Party
