Nigel Farage has questioned the management of Reform UK before his takeover last month, saying the party was a “shambles”.
The Clacton parliamentary candidate admitted his “shock” at the state of the party and said he “didn’t quite know what I was inheriting a month ago”.
When asked whether he would have still taken the top job had he known about the issues Reform UK was grappling with, he appeared hesitant to answer.
The Right-wing party has been rocked by a series of defections this week, with two candidates switching their support to the Conservative Party while denouncing the noxious internal environment.
Candidate Georgie David claimed that the “vast majority” of Reform UK candidates are “racist, misogynistic and bigoted”.
Fellow candidate Liam Booth-Isherwood also quit the party as he denounced a “significant moral issue” within the movement.
Speaking to GB News, Mr Farage said: “I’ve been a bit shocked at just how relatively amateur and startup the whole thing was.
“It’s not a criticism, Richard Tice kept it going – he put a million quid of his own money, loans yeah, but into keeping it going. And yeah, it was a bit of a shambles.
“So have we got some bad apples? Yes. Is it reflective of the broader party – no. And on this ludicrous racism charge, well you can see Zia Yusuf is our biggest donor so far in the campaign. We’ve got plenty of candidates from all sorts of backgrounds.”
Asked if he would still have become leader, he added: “If I’d known what I was inheriting a month ago … I would still have done it.”
However, he criticised the party’s strategy to select candidates as he insisted Reform UK should have been stricter in picking nominees.
Mr Farage added: “It annoys me greatly, but I can see what happened. They literally put out a Charlie Charlie call. ‘Anyone that wants to stand please come and stand.'”
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