A political movement that has grown faster than its own machinery is being tested in public, as a councillor facing serious charges he denies remains in post long after his arrest, and a member of the leader's security team is found to have carried a rape charge through the spring campaign. The episodes arrive in a long human story familiar to any rapidly expanding party: the gap between how many people must be recruited and how carefully each can be known. Reform's answer so far has been a vetting process that relies heavily on candidates speaking honestly about their own pasts, and it is not
Reform UK's Vetting Failures Mount as Charges, Off-Script Remarks and Candidate Scandals Pile Up
Multiple alleged rape victims are involved in the charges against a Reform councillor, and the charges are unproven.
He now needs a vetting system to match.
Mark
Why did this exchange with Farage stand out?
Mimi
Because he said he'd only been told the day before that Madgwick was still in his role. Nearly ten months after an arrest, the leader apparently didn't know.
Luke
Worth noting that's Farage's account. We don't know who knew what inside the party, or when.
Mark
And the charges themselves?
Mimi
Thirty-five in all, including twelve allegations of rape. Madgwick says he's innocent, and nothing has been proven.
Mark
Then there's the security team member.
Mimi
Ryan Dinnage was facing a rape charge while travelling with Farage during the local election campaign, and was later convicted and jailed. Reform says it didn't know and stopped using him once it did.
Luke
Again, that's the party's statement. The reporting doesn't say how a check might have caught it.
Mark
Is it fair to call this a vetting failure, then?
Mimi
The piece points out that no party can easily learn of an arrest or charge unless the person discloses it. But it argues Reform's scale of recruitment and its judgment-call approach make errors likelier.
Luke
That comparison rests largely on one Conservative official, who has an obvious vantage point. And how Reform's system actually works is something the party won't spell out, so a lot remains unknown.
Mark
What should we watch?
Mimi
Whether Reform makes its checks stricter and more transparent before the next elections.
El Pulso
- A councillor facing 35 charges, 12 of them rape allegations, was still in post nearly ten months after his arrest, and the leader only learned of it the day before.
- Farage's security chief-adjacent aide, Ryan Dinnage, was found to have faced a rape charge during the local election campaign, and has since been convicted and jailed.
- Party vetting, run in-house by the deputy chair, is described as a 'commonsense' judgment call that leans on candidates volunteering their own histories.
- Each new revelation forces the party to disown candidates, from a Makerfield byelection hopeful to a suspended Sunderland councillor, while the question of how many more were missed keeps growing.
A political movement that has grown faster than its own machinery is being tested in public, as a councillor facing serious charges he denies remains in post long after his arrest, and a member of the leader's security team is found to have carried a rape charge through the spring campaign. The episodes arrive in a long human story familiar to any rapidly expanding party: the gap between how many people must be recruited and how carefully each can be known. Reform's answer so far has been a vetting process that relies heavily on candidates speaking honestly about their own pasts, and it is not yet clear whether that trust will give way to firmer, more visible checks.
Nigel Farage was introducing a new defence spokesperson when a reporter asked why a Reform councillor, arrested in January over multiple alleged sexual offences, was still in his post almost ten months later. Farage said he had only been told the day before and was not happy. He pushed back on suggestions of a double standard, pointing to how quickly the charge had been reported. The councillor, George Madgwick, faces 35 charges, including 12 rape allegations. He says he is innocent, and the charges remain unproven.
The case is one of several awkward episodes for a party that has had to professionalise at a pace it was never built for. Earlier, it emerged that Ryan Dinnage, a member of Farage's security team, had faced a rape charge while working on the local election campaign. He was later convicted and jailed. Reform says it did not know and that he was dropped once the charge surfaced.
The party's vetting remains opaque. It is now run by Paul Nuttall, and the stated aim is a balance between reputation and individual freedom, so offensive online posts are not automatically disqualifying. Critics, including a Conservative official, say Reform's approach is more of a judgment call than a rigorous screen, and that people are not always rejected for things they failed to disclose. Farage rejects the idea that his party is more toxic than others, but the pressure to build a vetting system to match its growth is only increasing.
Nigel Farage had just introduced Reform UK's new defence spokesperson this week when the mood at the press event turned. A reporter asked why a Reform councillor, arrested in January over multiple alleged sexual offences, was still in his post almost ten months later. "I have no idea," Farage answered coldly. "I was told yesterday, and I wasn't very happy."
A follow-up about the party's vetting of candidates did not help. Farage countered by asking why wrongdoing in other parties gets so little coverage, when news that this councillor had been charged triggered a BBC News alert. The councillor is George Madgwick, Reform's leader on Hampshire county council. The charges against him number 35, including 12 allegations of rape, which on any reading makes them deeply serious. Madgwick has said he is innocent, and the charges remain unproven.
The case lands amid a run of awkward episodes for a party that has had to grow and professionalise faster than it ever has before, with internal structures at times failing to keep pace. A little over a week earlier, it emerged that Ryan Dinnage, a member of Farage's security team who was with him during this year's local election campaign, had been facing a rape charge at that time. He was later convicted and jailed. Reform said it had not known about the charge and that Dinnage "ceased to be used" by the party once it came to light.
On Monday, Glenn Gibbins, a Reform councillor on Sunderland city council who is now suspended, is due in court charged with making "grossly offensive" social media posts about Nigerians. He denies the charge.
Cases like these are rare. Far more common is the need to disown a candidate after old offensive or prejudiced remarks, often posted online, resurface. The most prominent example was Robert Kenyon, the local plumber Reform hoped would stop Andy Burnham returning to the Commons in June's Makerfield byelection. Kenyon had stood in the seat in 2024, but closer scrutiny this time turned up comments expressing scepticism about vaccines and the seriousness of Covid, interactions with far-right figures, and an endorsement of a strikingly lewd remark about the TV presenter Carol Vorderman.
Being pressed on vetting is familiar territory for Farage. Shortly before the 2024 general election he blamed an external company for failing to carry out proper background checks, hinting that Reform had been "stitched up politically". Vetting was brought in-house, first under a "business psychologist" and former parliamentary candidate who had once described the Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad as "gentle by nature". It is now run by Paul Nuttall, the deputy chair, who briefly led Ukip a decade ago and came under scrutiny then over his CV and a claim that he had lost close friends in the Hillsborough disaster.
The party says little about how the system works. Members were told last year that the aim was a "commonsense" approach balancing the party's reputation against individual freedom, so intemperate social media output is not an automatic bar. Other elements are reportedly tougher: hopefuls at regional events are said to be made to give a speech and sit a mock interview without preparation.
A Conservative official familiar with Reform's approach said it leans heavily on candidates being open about their careers and opinions. Every party does so to a degree, the official said, but the Conservatives begin by asking whether anything could bring the party into disrepute, and a later discovery of something undisclosed is "very problematic". With Reform, they said, it seems more a judgment call, and people are not necessarily rejected over comments they did not admit to. Conservative parliamentary candidates must also submit full employment and residence histories and face what the official called "tricky conversations" at interview.
No party can escape reliance on trust. ITV's recent undercover documentary on Reform featured councillors and candidates making offensive remarks, and included footage of a regional chair advising a reporter posing as a would-be candidate to delete problematic posts. And it is usually impossible to know whether someone has been arrested or charged unless they say so. When a party is trying to recruit many hundreds of councillors and MPs at once, things can go wrong.
The article also notes that a party built largely on immigration and sweeping talk of supposedly problematic foreign cultures is likely to attract some people with off-piste views. Farage vehemently rejects the idea that Reform's culture is more toxic than any other party's. What he now needs, the piece concludes, is a vetting system to match.
Citas Notables
I have no idea. I was told yesterday, and I wasn't very happy.— Nigel Farage, on Madgwick still being in his role
With Reform it seems to be more of a judgment call.— Conservative official familiar with Reform's approach
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