Farage went on to say that, ‘People who keep on tweeting after a glass of wine make some blooming silly mistakes’. The post was still up as of publication of this article
Nigel Farage has called on a prominent Reform member to apologise after a social media post which caused a huge backlash.
On Monday, April 27, Plaid Cymru shared a campaign on X which included a video featuring Bashy, a black man who describes himself as a community organiser from Butetown in Cardiff. Read the biggest stories in Wales first by signing up to our daily newsletter here.
In the footage posted by Plaid Cymru, Bashy is standing outside Cardiff Castle telling voters that the Senedd election is a “straight up fight” between Plaid and Reform.
“This is a choice between hope or division, substance or noise, ambition or chaos”, he states in the party video.
The footage was shared by businessman and Reform UK member Arron Banks on Monday afternoon with the caption: “Welsh lad?”
Mr Banks, who was also the co-founder of the Leave.EU campaign and has previously stood for election for Reform, hadn’t removed the post as of Thursday morning April 30.
On Wednesday, April 29, Reform leader Nigel Farage told BBC Wales that the post was in “poor taste”. He said of Banks: “People who keep on tweeting after a glass of wine make some blooming silly mistakes”.
Banks previously said his comments in the post were a “joke”. Asked whether Banks should apologise, Farage said: “Yeah, he won’t – he’s Arron Banks.”
Meanwhile, Reform’s leader in Wales Dan Thomas declined to condemn Banks’ comment when given the opportunity to do so this week.
The remark was raised during the BBC Wales’ Your Voice debate which featured the leaders of the six biggest parties in a 90-minute discussion ahead of the Senedd election on May 7.
During the debate, host Bethan Rhys Roberts asked Mr Thomas: “Do you distance yourself from those contacts?”
Mr Thomas answered: “I’ve had my Welshness questioned by supporters of Plaid Cymru today. They’ve called me a plastic Taffy because I happened to live in England.
“I’ve been called an English nationalist because I happen to be a member of Reform. I’m Welsh through and through. I have also had my Welsh identity questioned. I’ll take no lessons from Plaid Cymru and their Welsh nationalist extremist.”
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