Farage campaigns in Clacton with disgraced Nazi salute candidate

Emily Price 

Nigel Farage has been joined in Clacton on the by-election campaign trail by a former Reform Senedd election candidate who resigned after an image emerged of him performing a Nazi salute.

Corey Edwards posed for photographs with Mr Farage after travelling to Essex alongside several other prominent Reform Wales figures to support the party leader ahead of the July 28 vote.

Video footage posted online by Sir Gaerfyrddin MS Gareth Beer showed Mr Farage drinking a pint alongside Mr Edwards and others in a Clacton pub beer garden.

Mr Edwards was unveiled as Reform’s lead candidate for Pen-y-bont Bro Morgannwg ahead of the Welsh election in May,

He later made national headlines when Nation.Cymru published an image of him with a finger beneath his nose and one arm raised.

At the time, Mr Farage defended the former Conservative special adviser, saying he had been impersonating Basil Fawlty.

Mr Edwards, meanwhile, said he had been impersonating a footballer, adding that he made mistakes in the past, but had since turned his life around.

Video footage later emerged of him filming himself whilst driving a car and drinking from a bottle of Bud Light beer.

Social media posts from 2014 also resurfaced, showing Mr Edwards had described Romanians as “dirty” and used a term associated with the Nazi belief that Nazi Germany was the successor to the Holy Roman Empire.

He withdrew from the Senedd election race citing mental health struggles just days after he was announced as one of Reform’s leading candidates. 

He has since been appointed as a special adviser to the party’s Welsh leader, Dan Thomas.

Several Reform Senedd Members took part in canvassing in Clacton at the weekend including Sir Fynwy Torfaen MS Stephen Senior and Caerdydd Ffynnon Taf MS Cai Parry Jones who said he was “helping the boss fight the establishment”.

Mr Farage triggered the by-election by resigning as Clacton’s MP after questions mounted about a £5 million gift he received from crypto-billionaire and Reform donor Christopher Harborne.

Reform’s leader said the money was needed to pay for his lifelong personal security, citing ongoing threats and a lack of state-funded protection.

The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards launched an investigation into why Mr Farage did not declare the sum on his register of financial interests.

Under House of Commons rules, newly elected MPs must register any gifts or benefits worth more than £300 that they received in the 12 months prior to their election.

Reform UK argued that the money from Mr Harborne was a personal “unconditional” gift that did not need to be declared.

The standards investigation into Mr Farage’s financial declarations has been paused because he is no longer a Member of Parliament.

If he wins the Clacton by-election and returns to Parliament, the investigation will automatically resume.

If he is not re-elected, the standards commissioner will decide whether it remains appropriate and proportionate to continue the inquiry.

Labour, the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats, and the Green Party have all officially chosen to boycott the by-election.

A record-breaking 34 candidates have confirmed they will contest the by-election with the satirical novelty candidate Count Binface emerging as one of Mr Farage’s highest-profile opponents.

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