{"id":497079,"date":"2026-03-26T21:31:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T21:31:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/497079\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T21:31:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T21:31:08","slug":"photo-emerges-of-prominent-reform-senedd-election-candidate-performing-nazi-salute","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/497079\/","title":{"rendered":"Photo emerges of prominent Reform Senedd election candidate performing Nazi salute"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Emily Price<\/p>\n

A photograph has emerged of a prominent Reform UK Senedd election candidate performing a Nazi salute.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday (March 25), the party led in Wales by former London councillor Dan Thomas unveiled its full slate of Senedd election hopefuls ahead of the May 7 poll.<\/p>\n

The list came with just 15 days to go until the deadline due to the party carrying out what it described as a \u201cbrutal and intrusive\u201d vetting process to pick candidates.<\/p>\n

Opposition politicians warned that Reform had left their announcement until weeks before the election because they were avoiding scrutiny.<\/p>\n

Former special advisor to the secretary state for Wales, Corey Edwards, was announced as the Reform\u2019s lead candidate for the Pen-y-Bont Bro Morgannwg constituency.<\/p>\n

Edward\u2019s LinkedIn states that he worked for former Welsh Secretary David TC Davies between November 2022 and October 2023.<\/p>\n

However it is understood he left the Wales Office in February 2023.<\/p>\n

Edward\u2019 s LinkedIn also states that prior to this, he held a number of other roles in Westminster including as a special advisor to His Majesty\u2019s Attorney General for three months in 2022 and as special advisor in the cabinet office for seven months.<\/p>\n

There has been knowledge within Conservative circles for at least six years of an image of Edwards holding a finger to his top lip with his other arm raised in the air in a Nazi style salute.<\/p>\n

The gesture, adopted in 1930s Nazi Germany, was used to signify obedience to Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party.<\/p>\n

Where the photo was taken and what prompted Edwards to make the hand gesture is not known.<\/p>\n

\u2018Disgraceful\u2019<\/p>\n

We asked Reform UK if the party was aware of the offensive image of Edwards \u2013 but we did not receive a response.<\/p>\n

Following the publication of our story, Edward posted a video statement to X saying his political opponents were \u201cdigging up dirt\u201d from his distant past.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cI\u2019ve made mistakes in the past, and I\u2019ve done things then that I wouldn\u2019t do today.<\/p>\n

\u201cI left school at 16 with no job lined up. I didn\u2019t see many opportunities for people like me in the world \u2013 and I would fool around trying to get attention, trying to feel some love and trying to feel some value.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve since turned my life around \u2013 I\u2019ve gone on to work for three Prime Ministers in the heart of government.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis things I did way back when don\u2019t reflect who I am today. I did lose my way and found myself in difficult times.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reform\u2019s leader Nigel Farage was later quizzed on the photo by an ITV journalist.<\/p>\n

He defended Edwards saying the Senedd candidate had been imitating Basil Fawlty.<\/p>\n

\u2018Disgraceful\u2019<\/p>\n

A Plaid Cymru spokesperson said: \u201cThis is utterly disgraceful from the Reform candidate, and shows exactly what Reform are about.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn the back of one of their Members of the Senedd being banned for racism, and Reform candidates in Scotland facing controversy for racism and fraud \u2013 this photo confirms a clear pattern in the calibre of candidates they\u2019re selecting to represent communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cReform have serious questions to answer regarding their vetting process across the UK.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey aren\u2019t fit to be anywhere near power here in Wales.<\/p>\n

\u201cPoll after poll has shown this election in Wales is a straight fight between Plaid Cymru or Reform, and the choice this May couldn\u2019t be any different: Reform\u2019s chaos and divison or Plaid Cymru\u2019s ambition for our communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlaid are the only party that can stop Reform, Welsh people should elect a government that will put our communities first \u2013 not use the Senedd as Farage\u2019s stepping stone to no.10 Downing Street.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Noise\u2019<\/p>\n

A Welsh Labour source said: \u201cReform have been making a lot of noise about their vetting process, but clearly it\u2019s about a robust as their policies.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf this is the sort of behaviour they deem worthy of being top of their lists, then they have a lot of questions to answer.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat else are their candidates hiding? Farage and his followers are trying to take Welsh voters for fools.\u201d<\/p>\n

Announcing Reform\u2019s list of candidates yesterday evening, leader Dan Thomas described the line up as a \u201cfresh start\u201d for Wales.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cThis evening we have unveiled a full slate of candidates for the Senedd Election.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter 100 years of failure, Labour are finished in Wales. The choice at this election is what comes next<\/p>\n

\u201cCommon sense and a fresh start with Reform, or independence by stealth with Plaid Cymru.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Chaos\u2019<\/p>\n

It came as some members of Reform UK warned of growing \u201cchaos\u201d behind the scenes as infighting erupted over the party\u2019s choice of candidates for the Welsh election.<\/p>\n

Reform sources told Nation.Cymru that\u00a0 the party had \u201cstopped supporting candidates who have been working in their constituencies for months and years\u201d and had instead \u201cshipped in new candidates from outside those constituencies\u201d to support Thomas.<\/p>\n

Merthyr Tydfil Councillor Andrew Barry quit the party citing anger over \u201cparachuting\u201d individuals into seats from outside the local area.<\/p>\n

Barry \u2013 who defected to Reform UK during a keynote speech by Nigel Farage last year \u2013 also criticised the substantial number of Conservative defectors the party had welcomed.<\/p>\n

Support our Nation today<\/p>\n

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\n independent, not-for-profit, national news service for the people of Wales, by
\n the people of Wales.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Emily Price A photograph has emerged of a prominent Reform UK Senedd election candidate performing a Nazi salute.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":497080,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-497079","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-kingdom","8":"tag-gb","9":"tag-great-britain","10":"tag-greatbritain","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497079","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=497079"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497079\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/497080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=497079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=497079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=497079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}