{"id":493342,"date":"2026-03-24T22:12:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T22:12:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/493342\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T22:12:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T22:12:08","slug":"reform-uk-suspends-mayoral-candidate-over-comments-on-jewish-group-reform-uk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/493342\/","title":{"rendered":"Reform UK suspends mayoral candidate over comments on Jewish group | Reform UK"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reform UK has suspended one of its key mayoral candidates after he described members of a Jewish neighbourhood watch group as \u201ccosplayers\u201d<\/a> and likened them to \u201cIslamists on horseback\u201d.<\/p>\n

Chris Parry, who had remained the mayoral candidate for Hampshire despite a previous controversy<\/a> in which he said David Lammy should \u201cgo home\u201d to the Caribbean, made the latest comments on Monday about Shomrim, a volunteer group that safeguards communities including Orthodox Jewish families.<\/p>\n

The former rear admiral was condemned for comments made when he retweeted a post on X by Catherine Blaiklock, a co-founder of the Brexit party, hours after news emerged of an arson attack on ambulances<\/a> run by a Jewish charity in London.<\/p>\n

\u201cCan Christian\u2019s [sic] in Britain set up their own police and patrol certain neighbourhoods?\u201d said Blaiklock, who posted a picture of a number of Shomrim vehicles.<\/p>\n

Parry shared the post, adding: \u201cRemember that these cosplayers have no more jurisdiction or legal authority than ordinary citizens.\u201d<\/p>\n

When he was challenged over the original post\u2019s characterisation of Shomrim, Parry replied<\/a>: \u201cThey are a community organisation, not a legal entity. It\u2019s the same with Islamists on horseback.\u201d<\/p>\n

When contacted by the Guardian after news that he was being dropped and would be investigated, Parry said that was not what he understood and that he was \u201cmid-Atlantic\u201d.<\/p>\n

A Reform UK<\/a> spokesperson said: \u201cChris Parry has been suspended by Reform UK pending investigation.\u201d The party has also suspended his mayoral candidacy.<\/p>\n

Shomrim has worked alongside Hatzola, the charity ambulance service that was targeted by arsonists early on Monday morning and provides emergency medical response and transportation to hospitals for both Jewish and non-Jewish people.<\/p>\n

Shomrim\u2019s president, Rabbi Herschel Gluck, described Parry\u2019s comments on Monday as \u201cignorant\u201d of the organisation\u2019s work, adding: \u201cIt shows a level of bias and ignorance which I\u2019m surprised at given that this is a politician who aspires to be a mayor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Parry, who is also the honorary president of Veterans for Reform, a group that brings together ex-military personnel supporting the party, had been set to stand in the Hampshire<\/a> and the Solent mayoral contest in 2028.<\/p>\n

He had apologised<\/a> for his \u201cclumsily worded\u201d post on X about Lammy in January after saying the deputy prime minister, who was born in London to Guyanese parents, should \u201cgo home to the Caribbean\u201d where his \u201cloyalty lies\u201d.<\/p>\n

Nigel Farage had expended political capital on defending Parry, describing some of his past comments as \u201ca bit rich\u201d but insisting he was \u201cintensely patriotic\u201d and had given enormous service to the UK.<\/p>\n

However, the latest controversy appears to have tipped the Reform UK leader over the edge as he faced being questioned about Parry\u2019s latest comments at a time when Jewish communities are reeling after the arson attack in Golders Green and Reform is preparing for elections in May.<\/p>\n

The party now faces having to find a new candidate to replace Parry for the Hampshire and the Solent mayoralty, a new post created after a new combined authority was agreed by the government. Reform would have been in a strong position to win.<\/p>\n

The Liberal Democrats\u2019 home affairs spokesperson, Max Wilkinson, had called on Farage earlier in the day to drop Parry. He later said: \u201cThis is a good start, but Farage has some way to go. There are serious questions to answer as to how this candidate got approved in the first place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Calvin Bailey, a Labour MP who wrote to Farage about previous comments attributed to Parry, including calling female MPs \u201charpies\u201d, said: \u201cIt should not take repeated incidents for basic standards of decency to be upheld.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Reform UK has suspended one of its key mayoral candidates after he described members of a Jewish neighbourhood…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":493343,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-493342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=493342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493342\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/493343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=493342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=493342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=493342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}