Reform MS calls for debate ‘without hate’ after sharing video of online abuse

Emily Price

A Reform UK MS has called for political debate “without hate” in a video of himself reacting to abusive and offensive comments aimed at him on social media.

In a video posted to Facebook on Tuesday (October 27), Clwyd MS Tom Montgomery said he had received some “quite interesting” messages on social media recently.

Montgomery was elected to the Senedd under Nigel Farage’s banner in May and was later appointed his group’s shadow minister for skills.

Reading out a series of comments showing the names of his trolls, the former Conservative said politics could “get a little feisty”, adding that he had been “very much enjoying” some of the messages he had received.

Laughter from Montgomery’s staff could be heard off camera as he read out one comment asking: “Who the f**k are you?”

Another social media user branded the Reform MS a “sycophantic dickhead”.

Responding directly to the camera, Montgomery said: ‘Thank you very much, I’m not, but thank you.”

A commenter named Jamie told him to “go to hell”, prompting Montgomery to reply: “That’s very kind Jamie but I like to think I have a few more years left in me before we are at that stage.”

An X user also accused Montgomery of being a “Reform racist”.

Looking directly at the camera, the shadow minister denied the accusation.

The video also featured a comment about Wales’ default 20mph speed limit, in which a user wrote: “Only f**king w**kers who shouldn’t be driving are fed up of 20 mph.

“Anyway Welsh stuff. F**k all to do with your English Nigel company.

“Fancy debating any of that? No. You don’t.”

At the end of the video, Montgomery held up what appeared to be an AI-generated image of himself crying.

He concluded: “I don’t mind robust debate and criticism, but surely we need to be able to debate these issues without hate.”

It comes after Labour MP for Mid and South Pembrokeshire Henry Tufnell went viral reacting to some of the hate comments he had received online in a “Mean Tweets” style TikTok skit.

The format was popularised by the long-running Jimmy Kimmel Live! segment, in which actors and musicians read aloud some of the harshest comments directed at them on social media.

Among the messages read out by the 34-year-old MP was: “You both need running over, absolute piss lizards.”

Another commenter wrote: “Posh schoolboy should f**k off back to his mommy and daddy – he doesn’t belong!”