Reform UK split over relationship to Nazi Tommy Robinson

Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice has tried to distance the far right party from Nazi Tommy Robinson

Senior figures of Reform UK are split over the far right party’s relationship to Nazi Tommy Robinson.

Reform UK’s deputy leader Richard Tice said the party “wants nothing to do with” Robinson and “all of that lot”. His remarks came after up to 25,000 fascist and racist thugs mobilised in London last Saturday—and were countered by over 20,000 anti-fascists.

But two senior figures have come out in defence of Robinson and his street gang. Ben Habib was deputy leader of Reform UK until July and Howard Cox ran as Reform UK’s London mayoral candidate.

Cox slammed a court’s decision to jail Robinson for 18 months on Monday for repeating false allegations about a Syrian refugee. “It’s a bit sad because I’m a good friend of Richard and we are close but that was wrong,” he said.

“I am one of that lot. Nigel Farage actually did contact me privately and he just simply said Richard went over the top.”

“I think Richard has got to come out and clarify what he really meant.”

Cox praised “most of the people” at the fascist rally last Saturday. He added that “99 percent of the people at all of these things are just concerned about getting our country back.

Habib urged Reform not to alienate Robinson’s supporters, who are enraged that the party hasn’t joined forces with them. “Those of us who care about this country, who want to stand against the uniparty of the Tories and Labour, have to stick together,” he said. “We are one group.

“I don’t know Tommy Robinson. I’m not going to venture an opinion on Tommy Robinson. But certainly, I’m not going to throw him under a bus.”

Habib said he knew “many people who told me they were” at the fascist rally last Saturday.  “They are our friends, they are Reform voters and we need to stand firmly behind them,” he said.

“The near 150,000 people who attended the rally at Whitehall last week were, I imagine, mainly British citizens. There were many from minority ethnic backgrounds, and flags from across the UK were being flown.

“I think I also saw a flag from Northern Ireland, a region close to my heart. I cannot make any case for rejecting the votes of these people, some of whom I knew.”

There are differing tendencies with Reform UK over how to turn it into a mass far fight party.  

One camp wants to maintain a veneer of respectability to the party and remains cautious about overtures to fascists such as Robinson. Tice has led a drive to “professionalise” the party and is keen to root out “extremists” who can embarrass the party.

Cox and Habib sense an opportunity in embracing forces further to the right.

When asked whether he would leave refugees to drown in the Channel, Habib responded “Absolutely. Why is that uncivilised?”

Cox and Habib envision a lash-up with Robinson’s supporters to help build Reform UK into a mass far right party. They see the numbers that Robinson turns out onto the streets and would likely want to turn that support into an army of Reform UK activists.

A key aim for Reform UK is to build local branches and roots in towns across Britain. Fascists flooding Reform UK would try to radicalise the party further to the right, or use the branches to build their own organisation.

The tensions at the top reflect the different pulls that Reform UK. It is trying to hoover up more disillusioned Tory voters while seeing a growing fascist street movement.

Reform UK has ramped up its council by-election efforts recently. It stood in 35 out of 100 seats between the general election in July and 24 October—and is standing in 24 out of 43 by-elections in the next four weeks.

Reform UK scored a victory in a by election in Bilston North, Wolverhampton. The council seat—a former steel and coal mining area— has been solidly Labour except for a Tory win in 2008.

Reform UK came first with 34.8 percent, Labour second with 25.1 percent and the Green third with 23.4 percent. It fed off deep disillusionment with the Labour Party and was helped by a low turnout.

The result is a warning that shows anti-racists have to organise against Reform UK in the local elections in May.

Reform UK is firmly under the grip of Nigel Farage and Richard Tice, with Cox and Habib remaining more as outsiders. But the fascists can still put pressure on the party and influence it from the outside.

Anti-fascists have to be ready to take on fascists on the streets and campaign against Reform UK on the ground.