Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
National
Adam Robertson

Reform UK candidate in Scotland 'called for Nicola Sturgeon to be shot'

A REFORM UK candidate standing in Scotland advocated for Nicola Sturgeon to be shot, it has been revealed.  

Robert Smith, the party’s candidate in Orkney and Shetland, has had a number of social media posts unearthed by The Times.

He also called Christine Lagarde, the president of the European Central Bank, the “head bitch of the globalists” and told female journalists men would not want to sleep with them.

It comes as the party’s leader Nigel Farage apologised for candidates who “should never, ever have been there” and said he would put the party under “much, much stricter control”.

An undercover Channel 4 reporter caught one canvasser saying migrants crossing the Channel on small boats should be used for “target practice,” as well as using a racial slur against Rishi Sunak.

In one post from 2016, Smith shared an article and said: “Since the great David Attenborough legitimised calls for political leaders to be shot, why not start with this bitch?”

In another post on social media, he called the former Scottish first minister a “silly crawling bitch” and in another post just four days later calls her “the silly bitch”.

(Image: Jonathan Brady/PA)

Replying to a 2020 post from JK Rowling, Smith called her a “wild bitch” while he also described the journalist Andrew Marr, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer (above) and London Mayor Sadiq Khan using degrading sexual imagery.

He also said “Covid vaccines are for poofs” and described Carol Vorderman as a “silly bint” while also telling a woman on Twitter/X: “I doubt he’d shag you either so you better try elsewhere.”

On Monday night, it was reported that Smith said he would “prefer Fred and Rose [West] to any of these c***s” during a discussion about the royal family on social media.

Another referred to women on ITV2’s Love Island as “thick tarts” and former LibDem leader Jo Swinson as a “gobby bird”.

Ann Widdecombe, a spokesperson for the party, told The Times that women should still vote for the party but conceded the comments were “completely unacceptable”.

She also added that the problem was “not unique to us [Reform]” and added: “I’m not going to have us branded as some sort of naturally racist and misogynist party, because we’re not.”

(Image: PA)

Farage (above) meanwhile previously told Times Radio: “This is a start-up party. I took it over a month ago. There were some people that should never, ever have been there, and I’m sorry for that.

“And nobody is angrier than I am, particularly as we’re doing so well with black and ethnic minority voters.

“Yes, some bad apples in a start-up. They’re gone and I won’t have anyone like it in the future in the party.

“I’m going to put this thing under a much, much stricter control.”

Asked about the social media comments by the BBC, Reform chair Richard Tice said they were "obviously appalling, absolutely appalling".

"The thing is we admit them and we move on and we change and we learn from them. That's what we're doing," he said. 

Tice continued: "People actually appreciate the fact that there is a new party out there that is telling it like it is."

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.