Reform UK candidate resigns over previous comments backing BNP

The Reform UK candidate Grant StClair-Armstrong has resigned after it was discovered he had previously encouraged people to vote for the far-right British National party.

StClair-Armstrong, 71, is standing for election in North West Essex, challenging the business secretary, Kemi Badenoch.

The Times reported that he wrote a blog post in 2010 that lamented the state of the UK, writing: “I could weep now, every time I pick up a British newspaper and read the latest about the state of the UK. No doubt, Enoch Powell would be doing the same if he was alive. My solution … vote BNP!”

His comments were unearthed from an archived version of the Joli Triste website, which has since been changed. It also featured posts including racial slurs about Chinese and Pakistani people and a joke about “female hormones”.

Asked about the BNP comment by the Times, StClair-Armstrong said: “I’ve got no excuses for that. I think they’re a disgusting party. I don’t like the English Defence League. I don’t like them.”

He added that he would resign over the matter. “I don’t really see any alternative,” he said.

StClair-Armstrong also told the Times: “I don’t have this stuff on my website any more … I removed all that stuff and made the website respectable. It was at a time when I was feeling particularly hard done by, I’d been shafted by a lot of people. I cleaned up my act a long, long time ago.”

In a post on X on Sunday evening, StClair-Armstrong said: “I do not and have never supported the BNP, particularly the nasty Nick Griffin. I posted it in a moment of frustration, the only person in the world who has ever done so.”

As nominations cannot be changed at this stage of the election, StClair-Armstrong’s name will still appear on the ballot paper in the constituency next to Reform UK. However, if he won a seat in parliament he would be an independent.

A spokesperson for Reform told the Times: “Mr StClair-Armstrong has tendered his resignation as a member of Reform UK due to the revelation of unacceptable historic social media comments and we have accepted his resignation.”

According to his profile on Reform’s website, StClair-Armstrong worked in the RAF. He was active in the local Conservative party and served four years as a town councillor before deciding to join Reform early last year.

StClair-Armstrong and Reform UK have been contacted for comment.