Racist posts by prominent Reform UK figure exposed

Emily Price

Nation.Cymru has obtained screenshots of deeply racist social media posts shared by a prominent Reform UK member and former Senedd election candidate.

Derek Roberts was selected to stand for Reform in the Pen-y-bont Bro Morgannwg constituency at the May 7 election.

However, shortly after Nation.Cymru published an image of Reform’s number one candidate in the constituency, Corey Edwards, performing a Nazi salute, Roberts also stepped down citing “personal reasons”.

In a post to Facebook, the former Welsh Guard said that despite stepping down as a candidate and a community councillor he would remain “an active member and supporter” of Reform UK.

Images posted by Roberts to a separate social media account in recent days show he has been taking part in canvassing ahead of the election next month.

However, Reform sources told us the real reason Roberts stepped down was because some of his colleagues had raised concerns about the highly offensive content he was sharing online.

One source, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “The party is understood to have been made aware of these posts prior to him stepping down and to have conducted an internal investigation.

“It is understood the content was confirmed by a Reform official as having been posted by Mr Roberts following a meeting with him.

“The explanation given to members does not appear consistent with the nature of this material.

“The attached posts are part of a wider body of similar content spanning a prolonged period.”

It is understood that Roberts was instructed to delete the racist social media account to avoid the press obtaining images of the content – but Nation.Cymru has been provided screenshots by a source.

In one post, published in March 2024, Robert’s wrote: “Money to protect Mosques!! Why the hell is this happening? We never had issues with religion on our soil before until Muslims came here! Look at history for God’s sake. Absolutely disgusting.”

In another post published during the run up to the general election, he published an image of Indian-born Labour MP Kanishka Narayan with the comment: “And you really think I will be voting for this twat? 2 reasons why not, 1 he is Labour, 2 he is ……..”

In another post about Pakistanis in Bradford, Roberts wrote: “Fuck me! Why are these people in our country?”

Sharing a February 2024 article about a pro-Palestinian march in London he wrote: “Just get a section of SF machine guns and a few thousand rounds and give the order to ‘open fire targets will fall when hit’. Do they not understand this is not Israel?”

Posting an image of a Plaid Cymru campaign graphic showing a woman wearing a burqa in August 2024, Roberts said: “This is a real advert by Plaid Cymru. Are they genuinely representing Wales – or just fishing for votes in one community?

“And that mask… who really knows what’s underneath? Probably just a Welsh girl from Rhondda!”

In another post about free train fare for asylum seekers in London, Roberts said they should instead be made to clean the streets “as payment for all the free stuff they are getting”.

In another post to Facebook published in February 2025, Roberts shared an image of a Mosque with a red cross over it.

In March 2024, he shared a BBC article with the headline “woman found fatally stabbed in street”.

He wrote: “Absolutely mad that this issue has not been sorted by the Muslim mayor of London! Oh shit yes it’s normal in a Muslim country.”

Sharing an image of Muslim former First Minister of Scotland Humza Yousaf, Roberts wrote: “At least this vile man is being kicked out of Scottish government.

“Remember one thing you are NOT elected by Scottish people the same as the PM and the Welsh FM.

“Remember white white white dickhead.”

In August 2024, Roberts shared a BBC story about a black man who claimed he had been treated like an animal by Met Police.

He wrote: “OMG do you actually believe this story? Why don’t you ask any officer in the capital about the abuse they get on the streets from non white individuals?”

In September 2024, when thousands of handheld pagers and walkie-talkies exploded in a coordinated series of attacks, killing and injuring thousands of people, Roberts posted an image of a pager device displaying the words, “Your 72 virgins are ready”.

Alongside the photo, he wrote: “Hats off for whoever was in charge of the attacks in Lebanon. Brilliant!”

In another post about the Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer he wrote: “I absolutely hate the PM as he is a communist twat and I absolutely detest the Islamic way of life. Freedom of speech!”

In another post, he wrote: “Jesus H Christ!! The Muslims are like kids in a playground! They want to boycott everything, I didn’t know Zara did burqa.”

Sharing an image of a battleships game with the words, “hit migrant dinghy, 36 Syrians”, Roberts wrote: “Let see what happens.”

We sent the details of the screen grabs to Reform UK and asked why the party had allowed Derek Roberts to continue as the chair of one of its branches when it is aware of the highly racist content he had been sharing online.

We also asked if the party had asked Roberts to step down as a Senedd candidate or if he had done so on his own.

Reform UK, led by Clacton MP Nigel Farage, has previously claimed it used an intense vetting process when selecting its Senedd election candidates.

We asked what vetting procedures were used to check that Roberts was an appropriate candidate to stand in the Senedd election.

We also asked if it was true that Reform UK had instructed Roberts to delete his offensive social media account to avoid the press obtaining screen grabs.

We did not receive a response.

A Welsh Conservative source said: “Candidate scandals like this are now a repeated pattern for a party riddled with rotters.

“People across Wales are right to question the character of the people hoping to gain their vote at this election.

“One Reform candidate at this election was caught performing a Nazi salute, while their former leader is sat in jail for accepting bribes from the Russians.”

A Welsh Labour spokesperson said: “These abhorrent and racist social media posts are further proof that Reform have selected candidates that are not fit for public office or deserving of your vote.

“Last week, Nigel Farage claimed Reform had ‘one bad apple out of 96’ in Wales – after several candidates had already jumped ship. This week has proven the rot goes far deeper.

“Candidates are pushing racist social media posts and suggesting women should stay at home. Reform’s candidate for Pontypridd Cynon Merthyr says abuse in nurseries will ‘skyrocket’ if more women return to work.

“There is a pattern of vile racism and misogyny here, and even by selecting these candidates Reform have shown themselves completely unfit to govern Wales.

“Last time a version of this party entered the Senedd, they descended into bitter infighting. Wales can’t afford more of this chaos.”

A Plaid Cymru spokesperson said: “The idea that someone who has repeatedly made such repulsive and racist remarks could stand for our national parliament and represent our communities is deeply alarming.

“The fact that individuals with such extreme views were backed by Reform UK raises serious questions about how they approach their responsibility to represent communities across Wales and uphold the rights of everyone who calls Wales home.

“We should also remember that the candidate placed above him on the Reform list in this constituency was forced to step down after images emerged of him making what appeared to be a Nazi salute.

“This speaks volumes. Reform UK is not fit to represent our communities.”