Farage Urged To Sack Candidate Who Said ‘Islam Is A Cancer’

Nigel Farage has been urged to sack three Reform candidates standing in the upcoming local elections after HuffPost UK unearthed their past social media posts.

Voters across England are set to head to the ballot box to elect more than 4,850 councillors on May 7.

Reform is expected to do well, having held onto their lead in the opinion polls for more than a year.

But, amid wider concerns about the party’s vetting system, HuffPost UK has uncovered several concerning social media posts from three of Reform’s upcoming candidates.

Ricky Hodges, who is standing for Reform in Hastings, Tressell, posted a Family Guy meme in October on Facebook, joking about shooting outside No.10.

He also claimed “Islam is a cancer” in a Facebook post from July 2025.

He wrote: “We have let sharia law into our communities, we have given Muslims priority over our own people whilst they milk our benefits system to find there [sic] mosques! We have an open border with 1000s of Islamic extremists coming in un challenged!”

He added: “I for one am ashamed and angry at this countries establishment! For us that served our country have seen the very threat that you sent us to fight now taking over our country and it is so sad.”

In the attached hashtags, he wrote: ”#wakeup #youhaveforgot #islamisacancer.”

Hodges also attended a rally organised by far-right leader Tommy Robinson in London last year.

A different candidate – Jonathan James Fox – is standing for Reform in Sandwell, Bristnall.

He posted an image of bacon on Facebook in 2019, along with the caption: “People who eat bacon are less likely to blow themselves up.”

He also shared a quote from Enoch Powell, a former Conservative shadow minister who, in 1968, claimed migrants were making Britons “strangers in their own country”.

Powell’s “rivers of blood” speech was blamed for deepening racial tensions at the time.

Fox added a photo of Powell against a Union Jack backdrop along with the caption: “One day the people of this nation will wake up.”

Meanwhile, Dave McCullough – who is standing for Reform in Sharston, Manchester – posted an image on Facebook in 2018 of a Muslim woman with the caption: “You think I’m a terrorist but I identify as a firework.”

These posts are no longer visible to the general public on the candidates’ Facebook profiles.

Labour Party chair Anna Turley urged Farage to sack these candidates.

She told HuffPost UK: “The comments are utterly appalling. How Nigel Farage thinks these individuals are fit to stand for public office shows how far he’s willing to drag politics into the gutter.

“If Reform’s vetting procedures are so vastly improved, as Nigel Farage has claimed, he needs to urgently explain how these people made it on the ballot paper with his party’s logo.

“Farage must condemn these comments and act fast to boot these people out of his party. And he should apologise to voters for selecting them in the first place.”

Reform UK has been approached for comment.

Just last month, the party suspended its Hampshire mayoral candidate Chris Parry after he made controversial social media comments regarding a Jewish community safety group.

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