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Kemi Badenoch gets lucky: her Reform opponent had admitted being a BNP supporter
so the party's chucked him out, but it's too late to remove him from the ballot. So while her rivals in the next Tory leadership contest have to concentrate on holding on to their own seats, she can spend her time drumming up support among whatever Tory MPs do get re-elected, and positioning herself as the next leader with the party faithful.
The Reform UK candidate Grant StClair-Armstrong has resigned after it was discovered he had previously encouraged people to vote for the far-right British National party.
StClair-Armstrong, 71, is standing for election in North West Essex, challenging the business secretary, Kemi Badenoch.
The Times reported that he wrote a blog post in 2010 that lamented the state of the UK, writing: “I could weep now, every time I pick up a British newspaper and read the latest about the state of the UK. No doubt, Enoch Powell would be doing the same if he was alive. My solution … vote BNP!”
His comments were unearthed from an archived version of the Joli Triste website, which has since been changed. It also featured posts including racial slurs about Chinese and Pakistani people and a joke about “female hormones”.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/jun/16/reform-uk-candidate-resigns-over-previous-comments-backing-bnp
StClair-Armstrong, 71, is standing for election in North West Essex, challenging the business secretary, Kemi Badenoch.
The Times reported that he wrote a blog post in 2010 that lamented the state of the UK, writing: “I could weep now, every time I pick up a British newspaper and read the latest about the state of the UK. No doubt, Enoch Powell would be doing the same if he was alive. My solution … vote BNP!”
His comments were unearthed from an archived version of the Joli Triste website, which has since been changed. It also featured posts including racial slurs about Chinese and Pakistani people and a joke about “female hormones”.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/jun/16/reform-uk-candidate-resigns-over-previous-comments-backing-bnp
She's now the clear favourite as next leader (about 7/2, with the closest being Priti Patel around 6/1): https://www.oddschecker.com/politics/british-politics/next-conservative-leader
And remember - Badenoch was the candidate in the previous leader election who looked too extreme even for Nadine Dorries: https://www.democraticunderground.com/108821831
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