James Cleverly has distanced himself from a post by Tory chairman Kevin Hollinrake, who appeared to liken Reform UK to the Nazis in a Twitter/X post that sparked a furious reaction
Top Tory James Cleverly has distanced himself from an attack by the party chairman likening Reform UK to Adolf Hitler’s Nazis – despite Kemi Badenoch saying it was a joke.
Mr Cleverly said Kevin Hollinrake’s comparison was not “a particularly good post” after it caused outrage. Mr Hollinrake, who has chaired the party since July, shared a picture of a Swastika badge in response to a post by the Reform chief. Although he quickly deleted the post, he later doubled down by posting a link to a page about the badge instead.
Mr Cleverly told Times Radio: “I don’t think that was a particularly good post. I don’t think it made the point that I think he was trying to make.
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“I think this was against the backdrop of Reform’s former leader in Wales basically being sent to prison for taking bribes from the Russian state to amplify Russian propaganda. It’s not what I would do, but I think the point that he was trying to make is that Reform as a party is riddled with scandal…”
He went on to attack Mr Farage for refusing to open an investigation into Russian influence inside Reform, saying: “I think that is unacceptable as a party leader.” On Friday Reform UK’s former leader in Wales, Nathan Gill, was jailed for ten-and-a-half years after admitting taking Russian bribes to give scripted speeches and TV appearances.
On Monday Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said: “Kevin Hollinrake made a joke. Reform spend a lot of time online abusing other politicians.” Mr Hollinrake posted a picture of a badge awarded to the first 100,000 members of Adolf Hitler’s party in 1933. It was in response to a post by Mr Farage stating “coming soon”, along with a gold Reform logo.
Despite deleting the image, Mr Hollinrake went on to post a link to the Wikipedia page about the badge. He accompanied it with an “eyes” emoji. The incendiary post sparked fury in Reform circles.
Mr Farage hit back: “This is why they are on course to win 14 seats at the next election.” It refers to leaked polling from Tory HQ suggesting party chiefs are predicting a near-whitewash if there was a general election now.
Reform advisor Alan Mendoza, a recent Tory defector, posted: “Is Kevin Hollinrake out of his mind? Making a comparison between Reform and Nigel Farage to the Nazis is not only a disgraceful slur but also lazy and weak.”
And Tory MP Suella Braverman branded the comparison “wrong, irresponsible and highly counter-productive”. She added: “Kevin does not speak for me.”
A Tory spokesman told The Mirror: “Reform are more interested in tweets than the shame of their leader in Wales being jailed for 10 years for being Putin’s stooge, or their plan to scrap the two child benefit cap costing taxpayers more and more. Reform need to get off social media and explain why they’re so cozy with Russia and want more welfare.”
A Reform source said: “If you vote Reform, the chairman of the Conservative Party thinks you’re a Nazi. The Tory party somehow manages to sink further into the gutter.”
Mr Hollinrake posted a link to a page about the Golden Party Badge. This was an award authorised by Hitler to acknowledge the first wave of members, with over 20,000 men and 1,795 awarded the badge.
It was also awarded at Hitler’s discretion to those who merited special treatment. Reform policy chief Zia Yusuf told GB News: “Kevin Hollinrake has destroyed any chance of Kemi Badenoch or Robert Jenrick keeping their seats.
“This will be on leaflets and ad vans to the point of saturation, so every single one of their constituents knows: the Tories think that if you support Reform, you’re a Nazi.”
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