Reform UK accused of ‘betrayal’ as Senedd candidate quits ahead of election
Emily Price
Reform UK has been accused of “betraying” its own members by a Senedd candidate who has quit the party ahead of the election.
Patrick Benham-Crosswell had been placed fifth on the party’s list of candidates for the Gŵyr Abertawe seat.
In a statement published to his Facebook account on Saturday (March 28) Benham-Crosswell said Reform had “sunk deep into the sewer” and complained that he had been ranked fifth “to an ex-Tory”.
He wrote: “Having been an active member of Reform since it was founded, and the Brexit Party before that, it is with some sadness that I resign. In truth, Reform has left me.
“The party I joined and helped build had a clear vision of how to solve our country’s problems: better politicians who care more about the people they serve than their careers.
“That’s how we fought the 2024 general election, winning 14.3% of the vote across the UK. In Swansea, I came in second, with 17.5% of the vote.
“The ‘professionalisation’ of the party has led it to take its members and candidates for granted.
“Communications that once began ‘Thank you’ now more often start ‘You are required to…’
“The party’s employees in Millbank forget that branch officers and candidates are unpaid volunteers.
“Some will call my resignation petulance or sour grapes at my lowly placing on the list (fifth to an ex-Tory on the make and three novices).
“That rankles, but it has also confirmed to me what I feared; Reform is no longer open or honest.
“Politics is a dirty game, but Reform has sunk deep into the sewer when it should have been a beacon of decency.
“Across Wales the candidate appointment does not reflect how people performed in the selection process; I know because I was there.
“In many constituencies those at the top of the list are not the best. Far too many are Tories – and the Reform vote will suffer.
“Politics should be about openness, decency and serving the country, which it once was in Reform.
“Politics is (or should be) about people, not process. Principles, not opportunism. Passion, not career building.
“The Reform Party has betrayed its early members’ vision, labour and achievements. I won’t be a party to that, so I resign.”
‘Rats in a sack’
Former Welsh Conservative Francesca O’Brien had been awarded the to spot on Reform’s list for Gŵyr Abertawe.
The Mumbles councillor defected to Nigel Farage’s party last year, quitting her position as a Senedd staffer.
A Welsh Conservative source said: “Instead of standing up for ordinary people, Reform in Swansea are fighting like rats in a sack.
“Their candidate process has been a mess, with new shady revelations emerging every day about their character, despite Reform promising a rigorous vetting process.
“With Wales crying out for change, why waste this opportunity by electing ‘three novices’ and a chameleon ‘on the make’ who simply won’t be able to deliver the change Wales needs?”
Lead Liberal Democrat candidate for the constituency, Sam Bennett, said: “I agree with Patrick when he says that Reform have sunk deep into the sewer.
“They have selected a lead list candidate who said people on benefits should be ‘put down’, and who has consorted with far-right figures at public meetings.
“The people of Swansea and Gower deserve better than this. I’m standing up for decent politics that treats everyone with respect.”
Nazi salute
Benham-Crosswell’s resignation comes just a day after Reform’s lead candidate for Pen-y-bont Bro Morgannwg constituency announced he would stand down after Nation.Cymru revealed an image of him performing a Nazi salute.
There had been knowledge in Conservative circles for at least six years of the image showing Corey Edwards with a finger on his top lip and his other hand raised in the air in a Nazi style salute.
Where the photo was taken and what prompted the former special advisor to the Welsh secretary to make the hand gesture is not known.
Edward posted a video statement to X saying his political opponents were “digging up dirt” from his distant past.
Farage defended the offensive image saying Edwards had been imitating Basil Fawlty.
Reform later announced he would not be standing in the May 7 election due to mental health issues.
‘Parachuted’
Merthyr Tydfil Councillor Andrew Barry also quit the party this week citing anger over “parachuting” individuals into seats from outside the local area.
Barry – who defected to Reform UK during a keynote speech by Farage last year – also expressed anger over the substantial number of Conservative defectors the party had welcomed.
A Reform UK source said: “Ever since Farage took the leadership from Tice it’s been chaos, careerists who stood on the Rishi Sunak ticket either as general election or local councillor candidates got marched in by Nigel and said they now believed in Reform.
“But they were happy to stand with Sunak and all of those hopeless Tory governments and decisions.
“All been a long time coming, HQ imposing Tories and preventing any role for the branches to select the people they’d be told to knock doors for.
“It was always going to end with a nuclear fallout like this.”
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Freddie sang – “and another one bites the dust ……..”. How many more by next week? and by May will they fill a phone box?
Is Benham-Crosswell naïve or what? His description of Reform UK doesn’t tally with anything I’ve seen, and I dare say I’m not alone. The guy must be deluded!
However, it does warm the cockles of my hear to see the wheels fall off the Reform UK bandwagon even before May 7th.
I guess we’ll see even more shenanigins from this lot after the election too, but I guess we can hope that there will be fewer of them than expected, Especially as so many of them will succeed in nothing other than excluding themselves.
It was always going to unravel
It’s all going bady wrong
Wales going head to head with Scotland with candidates standing down
Scotland ahead 5 -3 but they have had a head start 😂
Like herding cats
Maybe Reform have forgotten the Welsh dont like being pushed around by the English
BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES
That’s two gone in Wales already – Reform in Wales are in danger of catching up with Reform in Scotland, where 5 candidates have departed since they announced their list for Holyrood just over a week ago.
If an hour has passed and the tree’s still standing, it’s probably not the saw that’s the problem.
Not leaving because his leader said some terrible things regarding gassing people, not leaving because pochin said she hates to see people of colour on TV, not leaving because 30 attacked disable people, not leaving because of the hate Kruger spouts, not leaving because of all the time farage spoke for putin as an MEP and admires him, not leaving for the support farage gives to trump…….all those things he is happy with.
If he has been in Reform UK (and its predecessor the Brexit Party) since the start, then he should know that it is a Limited Company where members and supporters have no rights over who they can select as candidates in his local area. Any of their candidates might be selected by only one man, or distant group of people high up in the party. The point of a Reform UK local branch is to send the Limited Company money and hand out leaflets (designed by other non-locals). If he knew all of this, why did he continue to involve… Read more »
I find these words befuddling. Sunk into the sewer is accurate but they would have been there since he found them. More anti Tory stuff when a look over the shoulder would show him that they aspire to be where he is, in Tory extreme land. Referring ti the word ‘decency’ would appear to be completely changing the subject. May the nuclear fallout mushroom to the very top.
So “the Reform Party has betrayed its early members’ vision, labour and achievements” according to Patrick Benham-Crosswell.
I suppose that disdain for the party’s grassroots is what you get from a party leadership which instructed its MPs to vote against the Employment Rights Bill in 2024.