Tory row erupts over jibe comparing Reform logo to Nazi badge
Kemi Badenoch has defended Tory leader Kevin Hollinrake after a civil war broke out within his own party after Nigel Farage compared the logo of Reform Britain to a Nazi badge.
The furious row was sparked when Mr Hollinrake posted a link to a Wikipedia entry about a badge distributed to members of Adolf Hitler’s party in response to a social media post by Nigel Farage showing the Reformation emblem.
Former Conservative home affairs minister Suella Braverman lashed out, saying: “Comparing the Reformation and its supporters to the Nazis is wrong, irresponsible and highly counterproductive,” adding: “Kevin does not speak for me.”
In an effort to put the row to bed, Ms Badenoch risked adding fuel to the fire by highlighting the case of Nathan Gill, the former Reform leader in Wales who was last week jailed for 10 years for holding pro-Russian sentiments.
The debate was sparked when Mr Farage tweeted his party’s new logo with the caption “coming soon”.
In response, Mr. Hollinrake appeared to liken it to the Gold Party Badge, which the Nazi Party gave to members as a long-service award.
Ms Braverman, who recently left Reform after an internal party row involving her husband, former leader Zia Yusuf, said: “I expect this from Labor, not the Conservatives.
“Let’s raise the level of debate: let’s criticize policies, even challenge people or their actions. But comparing Reformation and its supporters to the Nazis is wrong, irresponsible and deeply counterproductive. Kevin does not speak for me.”
Speaking to reporters at the CBI conference in London, Ms Badenoch defended the president’s actions.
He said: “Kevin Hollinrake made a joke. Reform spends a lot of time bashing other politicians online. I think they have much bigger problems.”
“Like on Friday the (former) reform leader in Wales was sentenced to 10 years in prison for spying on our country through the Russians. I think this is a much, much, much bigger problem than any tweet.”
A key ally of Mr Farage finally broke Reform UK’s silence on Mr Gill on Sunday.
Zia Yusuf, the party’s former chairman and a key member of the Reform leadership, claimed it was “implausible” to link Gill’s crime to the softer stance taken by his party and Mr Farage towards Vladimir Putin’s Russia and his criticism of the Ukraine war.
Mr Yusuf described Gill as “vicious, appalling, awful” in an interview with Sir Trevor Phillips on his Sunday morning political program on Sky News.
Mr Gill, 52, was sentenced to 10-and-a-half years in prison at the Old Bailey on Friday after previously admitting eight bribery charges committed between December 6, 2018 and July 18, 2019.
Ms Justice Cheema-Grubb handed down the sentence, saying the harm he had caused was “profound” and that he had “fundamentally compromised” the integrity of the legislature for the sake of “significant” financial gain.
