‘Want to join us? We don’t care about our MPs having criminal convictions,’ Nigel Farage tells Louise Haigh

Louise Haigh has been offered the chance to join Reform UK after she was forced to resign from her ministerial job due to a minor spent criminal conviction for fraud.

Just hours after tending her resignation, Farage reached out to the former cabinet member to insist that Reform is a broad church, and that criminal convictions are no barrier to being front and centre within the party.

Farage told reporters, “Let’s be honest, this is a minor conviction, that is now spent, and was literally no big deal over a decade ago when it actually happened. She served no time in prison – suspended or otherwise – and though technically she admitted her guilt, her crime made zero difference to anyone.

“It’s not like she beat her partner and was then jailed for the violent attack, is it? If James McMurdock can stand proudly alongside me as a Reform MP with that in his criminal history, do you really think we’re going to give a toss about whether she accurately reported a lost phone to the police?

“We are a party on the rise, and the voting public have clearly shown they don’t give two hoots whether our MPs have done time, so Louise would be welcomed with open arms.

“Oh, she’s pro workers rights? Oh no, consider the offer rescinded then – our supporters will never tolerate something as morally repugnant as that.”

Advertisement

NewsThumpNotebooks

Somewhere to write down everything that’s wrong with the world. You may need several.

See the full collection →