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Reform plans £1m ad blitz after being ‘flooded’ with donations

01 Jul 2024 4 minute read
Nigel Farage. Photo Yui Mok/PA Wire

Reform UK has announced a £1 million last-week advertising splurge ahead of the country going to the polls on Thursday.

The party said it was “flooded” with £400,000 of donations in 24 hours, and that in the month of the General Election campaign the party’s membership had doubled from 30,000 to 60,000.

Reform claims the donations came from “grass-roots” support spurred on by the party’s event held in Birmingham at the weekend, despite last week’s allegations of racism as a result of comments emerging from the Clacton division of the campaign.

The £1 million advertising campaign across national newspapers and websites will seek to drive home the message that only Reform UK will be able to mount an effective opposition to a Labour government.

Generosity

Party leader Nigel Farage said he was “blown away by the generosity of so many ordinary people who are sick of what is happening to this country”.

He said: “It is humbling but also very telling that they are prepared to back their faith in Reform UK with hard-earned cash and I thank each and every one of them.

“Reform UK is already the leading voice of opposition across the country and by Friday morning we can be the real opposition in Parliament, too. If people want to make it actually happen, all they have to do is vote for it. It’s that simple.”

Over the past week Mr Farage has faced accusations from across the political divide of failing to tackle allegations of racism within Reform which have engulfed the party.

Campaigners for Reform in the Clacton seat Mr Farage hopes to win in Essex were also recorded by an undercover journalist from Channel 4 making racist comments, including about the Prime Minister, who is of Indian descent.

Another activist described the Pride flag as “degenerate” and suggested members of the LGBT community are paedophiles.

Stricter control

Mr Farage said he will put Reform “under much, much stricter control” to avoid the risk of damaging support from ethnic minority voters.

He told Times radio: “This is a start-up party. I took it over a month ago. There were some people there that should never, ever have been there and I’m sorry for that.

“And nobody is angrier than I am, particularly as we’re doing so well with black and ethnic minority voters… Yes, some bad apples in a start-up. They’re gone. And I won’t have anyone like it in the future in the party. I’m going to put this thing under a much, much stricter control.”

He added: “How interesting that despite all these smears, YouGov polling yesterday showing that Reform now has more black and ethnic minority voters than the Liberal Democrats. So Channel 4 can do what they want. People out there are bright enough to work things out.”

With a rake of candidate controversies relating to racist, xenophobic or homophobic social media activity, Mr Farage said his party was “badly let down” by a company they contracted to vet candidates.

Mr Farage said: “When I took this over a month ago, we had hardly any staff and no money… Yes, we’ve got things to sort out, as every party does. But believe me, something is happening out there.”

The Reform leader also restated his pledge not to join the Conservative party, amid speculation he wants to attempt a “reverse takeover”.

He said: “For the moment, the Conservative Party is a broad church with no religion. I mean, they don’t agree on anything.

“They don’t stand for anything other than their own jobs or ministerial cars. I mean, frankly, the Conservative Party virtually doesn’t exist. This is for Reform.

“Thursday is the first big step. And what we’re going to do over the next few years is to build a mass movement for real change and that includes the electoral system and much else.”


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Fi yn unig
Fi yn unig
4 months ago

Reform UK must have worked out that they won’t have to buy a house in Skegness for Tice so they’re now chucking the rest of the pot at the campaign. Great. I hope they blow it all in the next 24 hours by which time they’ll have nothing left leaving time before Thursday to publish the rest of the evidence ranged against them.

Pascal Lafargue
Pascal Lafargue
4 months ago

Russian money?

Fi yn unig
Fi yn unig
4 months ago

I didn’t like to say.

Mawkernewek
Mawkernewek
4 months ago

Potentially but as apart from immigration the main idea of their policies is to be the voice of climate change denial and anti net zero policy, it could as easily be any other fossil fuel interests.

Adrian
Adrian
4 months ago
Reply to  Mawkernewek

Can you provide any evidence of anyone from Reform UK denying that the climate is changing?

Gareth
Gareth
4 months ago
Reply to  Adrian

In May of 2019 Nigel Farage appeared on the “Infowars” show in America with Alex Jones, the denier of the Sandy Hook school massacre, who has now been convicted for it and stated, “climate change is a scam” while talking of a conspiracy that ” globalists” are trying to start a war, to force the world into have one single government. As with most Farage comments this is open to interpretation, while not outright denial, same as his comments on race.

Adrian
Adrian
4 months ago
Reply to  Gareth

Stripping away the obfuscatory garnish from your comment I’m left with your claim that Farage said, in May 2019, that ‘climate change is a scam’. I’m still waiting for an answer to my question.

Gareth
Gareth
4 months ago
Reply to  Adrian

Ignoring the other 2 posts then, lol All 3 posted hours before your reply. Cherry picking. You are yet to tell me why Adrian answered a question on behalf of Warwick Stanton.

Gareth
Gareth
4 months ago
Reply to  Adrian

Dave Holland, the Reform candidate for Mid Bedfordshire, in a blog on Facebook denying climate change wrote ” if CO2 is such an enemy of the people, why have we not banned fizzy drinks? “

Gareth
Gareth
4 months ago
Reply to  Adrian

Richard Tice, made a video to ” challenge climate change nonsense “, while saying ” CO2 is plant food”, and therefore ” not a problem”. The video was debunked and it was stated Reform’s major doners in 2023 all had major oil and gas investments, and links to climate science denial.

karl
karl
4 months ago

Surely GBeebies, the BBC and talk radio are giving them enough illegal extra promotional time on air daily. If they want to chcuk more lies out, waste away.

Adrian
Adrian
4 months ago
Reply to  karl

Illegal how?

Adrian
Adrian
4 months ago
Reply to  Adrian

Again…down votes but no answer. Does no one have an actual argument any more?

Padi Phillips
Padi Phillips
4 months ago

Says it all really…

Reform-UK-True-Logo
cablestreet
cablestreet
4 months ago
Reply to  Padi Phillips

Nice one Padi, nice one son !

Daniel Pitt
Daniel Pitt
4 months ago

Do you remember when this country used to prosecute Nazi collaborators rather than giving them a wall to wall election platform?

Garycymru
Garycymru
4 months ago

Even the mention of reform should be a hate crime. What a collection of the most awful individuals on planet earth.
There’s probably a reason that a certain type supports them.

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