Reform UK has expelled one of its candidates for next month’s elections after it was unearthed that he was previously a member of the extreme far-right British National Party (BNP).

Reform expelled David Robert Prior just one day after Nigel Farage addressed him and other candidates at a rally, according to Jewish News reporting.

Jewish News noted that the Gateshead ward where Prior was going to stand, Saltwell and Bensham, has a sizable Orthodox Charedi community.

They say that Prior had actively sought support from the Orthodox Charedi community in Saltwell, concealing his previous affiliation with the BNP, which was formerly led by the openly antisemitic Nick Griffin.

Prior’s name appeared on a leaked BNP membership list that was posted on Wikileaks in 2010. 

According to one source, Prior’s BNP membership was an “open secret” in his village, and questioned how Reform UK’s vetting process had failed to uncover his background.

A communal figure told Jewish News: ”If people like David Prior are slipping through the net, you worry seriously about Reform UK’s vetting processes.

“How many other secret far-right extremists are standing for Nigel Farage’s party on May 7?”. 

Reform said it has expelled Prior and withdrawn support for his candidacy “after failing to declare his former membership of a proscribed organisation”. 

Following his expulsion and in reference to his BNP membership, Prior told the BBC: “It was 20 years ago and I am not that person any more, I am devastated to tell you the truth.”

Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward

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