- author, Harry Farley
- role, Political reporter
Reform UK says general election candidates are not “political zombies” and are therefore free to express views “that are not shared by all party members”.
This comes after new details emerged about social media posts linked to Reform UK candidates.
Reform UK candidate Angela Carter-Begbie called Prince Charles “weak” and claimed he was under the control of the global financial elite.
As first reported by The Times, Carter Begbie, who will be standing at Queen’s Park and Maida Vale, also questioned the monarch’s loyalty to the UK, saying he was “not a fan of the Queen”.
Bunker and Carter-Begbie have not yet responded to the BBC’s requests for comment.
Another Reform UK candidate denied describing migrants who have been granted asylum in Germany as “scum who tried to rape and destroy the EU”.
A Twitter account under the name of Kate Bosley, the party’s candidate in Reading West and Mid Berkshire, shared a video and a Twitter post from far-right activist Tommy Robinson.
Speaking to BBC News, Mr Bosley initially denied it was his social media account.
The social media post was shared in January 2016.
One person said: “Merkel. She let in a million refugee eco-male scum who only want to rape and destroy the EU…and make women and children suffer in the war zone!”
Germany has accepted more than one million asylum seekers in the past 12 months as part of its response to Europe’s migrant crisis.
The account also retweeted a tweet from another user who said people must be “idiots” or “brain-dead leftists” to think “wanting to protect your country from rapists and terrorists is racist.”
The Twitter account features the same photo used by Bosley on his campaign page on the Reform Party website.
Bosley initially denied it was his account.
BBC News then showed her another message, from a promotional account for the company she was working for at the time, according to her LinkedIn profile.
She responded: “I haven’t used Twitter/X for years and I don’t know how to log in now. For any recent posts (5 years old) I would like proof from Twitter/X of the IP addresses they are coming from.”
“The photos are easily screenshotted and available for anyone to use.”
Asked again if it was his Twitter account, Bosley did not respond.
Asked to comment on the latest allegations, a Reform UK spokesman said its candidates were “not party political zombies”.
“We are proud that they think and talk like normal people,” he added.
“They also have their own views and are free to express them just like anyone else, even if they are not shared by all party members.
“Ultimately, they are accountable to the voters in their districts, who are perfectly capable of making their own decisions.”
Reform UK threatened legal action against the company it hired to vet hundreds of candidates at a cost of £144,000 in April.
“They promised thorough critical scrutiny, particularly of social media and the press, and they took the data on our candidates, but then they provided absolutely nothing,” party leader Richard Tice said.
Reform campaigner Nigel Farage claimed it was an “establishment plot” because Vetting.com’s co-owner, Colin Bloom, is a former Conservative adviser.
A Vetting.com spokesman said: “A few months ago we approached all of the UK’s major political parties to offer our automated background check service.
“We were delighted to be asked to help with the reforms.
“Everyone assumed that because the elections would be in the fall, we would be able to get this done by the summer.
“Given the clear requirement for candidate consent and that our system requires basic personal data such as date of birth, our automated software was unable to process Reform’s candidates based on the data provided.”
“We have no intention of publicly litigating this. We send our best wishes to the reformers as they shake up the UK political landscape.”
“Mr Bloom will have no affiliation with the UK Conservative Party from 2022 onwards and remains politically neutral.”
The full list of candidates for the Exeter constituency can be found below. here
The full list of candidates for Queen’s Park and Maida Vale constituency can be found below. here
The full list of candidates for Reading West and Mid Berkshire can be seen below. here
