A Reform UK candidate has suspended her campaign and defected to the Conservatives because the “vast majority” of her fellow candidates are “racist, misogynistic and bigoted”.
Georgie David, the Reform candidate for West Ham and Beckton, said she had been “frustrated and dismayed” by party leader Nigel Farage’s failure to tackle issues with candidates.
Ms David said she did not believe Reform’s “senior leadership” are racist.
Reform UK chairman Richard Tice accused the Conservatives of offering Ms David “jobs and safe seats” to defect.
Writing on social media, Mr Tice said: “More desperate corruption by Tories.
“Note same press release language… coordinated by dirty tricks central, [Conservative Campaign Headquarters]”.
Ms David becomes the second Reform Uk candidate to defect to the Conservatives in two days, following Liam Booth-Isherwood, Reform’s candidate in Erewash.
In a statement she said: “I am hereby announcing my decision to leave the Reform Party and stand down as their candidate for West Ham and Beckton, with immediate effect.
“I am in no doubt that the party and its senior leadership are not racist. However, as the vast majority of candidates are indeed racist, misogynistic, and bigoted, I do not wish to be directly associated with people who hold such views that are so vastly opposing to my own and what I stand for.
“I also have been significantly frustrated and dismayed by the failure of the Reform Party’s leadership to tackle this issue in any meaningful way, and their attempts to instead try to brush it under the carpet or cry foul play.”
Although Ms David is suspending his campaign it is legally too late to change her as candidate and will still appear for Reform on the ballot paper.
Mr Booth-Isherwood also defected to the Tories on Sunday, citing “reports of widespread racism and sexism” among Reform candidates as the reason for leaving and said it was a “significant moral issue” in parts of Mr Farage’s party.
A Reform UK party spokesman said: “We are very disappointed with Ms David’s course of action.
“We strongly disagree with her sweeping comments about the ‘vast majority’ of our 600-plus candidates, the vast majority of whom she can never even have met.
“And we find it sad and strange that she chose not to bring up any of her concerns with the party leadership before publicly trashing so many of her blameless colleagues who are giving their all to get Reform UK elected.
“Ms David was a last-minute addition to our candidate list and we apologise to the voters of West Ham and Beckton for any inconvenience.”
