Farage’s ‘anti-women, pro-Hitler’ candidate apologises

A Reform UK candidate said Britain should have been neutral against Hitler, praised Vladimir Putin and said women should be denied healthcare.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage launches his economic policy in London On Monday. Picture: Getty Images

A Reform UK candidate said Britain should have been neutral against Hitler, praised Vladimir Putin and said women should be denied healthcare.

The party stood by Ian Gribbin on Monday, saying his comments pointed out “conveniently forgotten truths”, but he later apologised, insisting his statements had been “taken out of context”.

Mr Gribbin, standing for Nigel Farage’s party in East Sussex, posted the comments online in 2022, suggesting Britain would be “in a far better state today” if the country had “taken Hitler up on his offer of neutrality” before World War II.

He also said women were the “sponging gender”, that Winston Churchill’s strategy was “abysmal” and praised Putin just a month before Russia invaded Ukraine.

Reform stood by Mr Gribbin, whose comments were uncovered by the BBC on the UnHerd website, blaming journalists for ­“offence archaeology” and saying his historical perspective was “probably true”.

Asked if Mr Gribbin was a suitable candidate, Mr Farage suggested “they’ve got a bigger problem in the Green Party”. Green Party candidates have shared “anti-­Semitic” slurs and conspiracy theories, backed pro-Palestinian protests at Auschwitz and justified the October 7 massacre on Israel.

“They’ve had to suspend 20 of their candidates for putting out pretty vile anti-Semitic tweets,” Mr Farage said. “I think every party will suffer because it was a snap election. We’ve put in place a good vetting program, but we’ve run out of time.”

Veterans Minister Johnny Mercer said the comments were “shameful” and showed “a shocking lack of judgment”.

Mr Gribbin apologised for the “old comments” and withdrew them “unreservedly”.

“I myself am upset at the way these comments were taken out of context, especially when my mother was the daughter of ­Russian Jews fleeing persecution,” he said.

In the comments, made in July 2022, Mr Gribbin wrote: “Britain would be in a far better state today had we taken Hitler up on his offer of neutrality … but oh no, Britain’s warped mindset values weird ­notions of international morality rather than looking after its own people.”

He said women were “subsidised by men to merely breath (sic)” and previously suggested “depriving women of healthcare until their life expectancies are the same as men”.

The Times