{"id":500874,"date":"2026-03-28T23:11:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-28T23:11:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/500874\/"},"modified":"2026-03-28T23:11:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T23:11:09","slug":"reform-uk-accused-of-betrayal-as-senedd-candidate-quits-ahead-of-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/500874\/","title":{"rendered":"Reform UK accused of ‘betrayal’ as Senedd candidate quits ahead of election"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Patrick Benham-Crosswell had been placed fifth on Reform\u2019s list of candidates for the G\u0175yr Abertawe seat \u2013 Image: Facebook<\/p>\n

Emily Price<\/p>\n

Reform UK has been accused of \u201cbetraying\u201d its own members by a Senedd candidate who has quit the party ahead of the election.<\/p>\n

Patrick Benham-Crosswell had been placed fifth on the party\u2019s list of candidates for the G\u0175yr Abertawe seat.<\/p>\n

In a statement published to his Facebook account on Saturday (March 28) Benham-Crosswell said Reform had \u201csunk deep into the sewer\u201d and complained that he had been ranked fifth \u201cto an ex-Tory\u201d.<\/p>\n

He wrote: \u201cHaving been an active member of Reform since it was founded, and the Brexit Party before that, it is with some sadness that I resign. In truth, Reform has left me.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe party I joined and helped build had a clear vision of how to solve our country\u2019s problems: better politicians who care more about the people they serve than their careers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s how we fought the 2024 general election, winning 14.3% of the vote across the UK. In Swansea, I came in second, with 17.5% of the vote.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe \u2018professionalisation\u2019 of the party has led it to take its members and candidates for granted.<\/p>\n

\u201cCommunications that once began \u2018Thank you\u2019 now more often start \u2018You are required to\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cThe party\u2019s employees in Millbank forget that branch officers and candidates are unpaid volunteers.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome will call my resignation petulance or sour grapes at my lowly placing on the list (fifth to an ex-Tory on the make and three novices).<\/p>\n

\u201cThat rankles, but it has also confirmed to me what I feared; Reform is no longer open or honest.<\/p>\n

\u201cPolitics is a dirty game, but Reform has sunk deep into the sewer when it should have been a beacon of decency.<\/p>\n

\u201cAcross Wales the candidate appointment does not reflect how people performed in the selection process; I know because I was there.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn many constituencies those at the top of the list are not the best. Far too many are Tories \u2013 and the Reform vote will suffer.<\/p>\n

\u201cPolitics should be about openness, decency and serving the country, which it once was in Reform.<\/p>\n

\u201cPolitics is (or should be) about people, not process. Principles, not opportunism. Passion, not career building.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Reform Party has betrayed its early members\u2019 vision, labour and achievements. I won\u2019t be a party to that, so I resign.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Rats in a sack\u2019<\/p>\n

Former Welsh Conservative Francesca O\u2019Brien had been awarded the to spot on Reform\u2019s list for G\u0175yr Abertawe.<\/p>\n

The Mumbles councillor defected to Nigel Farage\u2019s party last year, quitting her position as a Senedd staffer.<\/p>\n

South Wales West Senedd Member Tom Giffard said: \u201cInstead of standing up for ordinary people, Reform in Swansea are fighting like rats in a sack.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir candidate process has been a mess, with new shady revelations emerging every day about their character, despite Reform promising a rigorous vetting process.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith Wales crying out for change, why waste this opportunity by electing \u2018three novices\u2019 and a chameleon \u2018on the make\u2019 who simply won\u2019t be able to deliver the change Wales needs?\u201d<\/p>\n

Lead Liberal Democrat candidate for the constituency, Sam Bennett, said: \u201cI agree with Patrick when he says that Reform have sunk deep into the sewer.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have selected a lead list candidate who said people on benefits should be \u2018put down\u2019, and who has consorted with far-right figures at public meetings.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe people of Swansea and Gower deserve better than this. I\u2019m standing up for decent politics that treats everyone with respect.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nazi salute<\/p>\n

Benham-Crosswell\u2019s resignation comes just a day after Reform\u2019s lead candidate for Pen-y-bont Bro Morgannwg constituency announced he would stand down after Nation.Cymru revealed an image of him performing a Nazi salute.<\/p>\n

There had been knowledge in Conservative circles for at least six years of the image showing Corey Edwards with a finger on his top lip and his other hand raised in the air in a Nazi style salute.<\/p>\n

Where the photo was taken and what prompted the former special advisor to the Welsh secretary\u00a0to make the hand gesture is not known.<\/p>\n

Edward posted a video statement to X saying his political opponents were \u201cdigging up dirt\u201d from his distant past.<\/p>\n

Farage defended the offensive image saying Edwards\u00a0had been imitating Basil Fawlty.<\/p>\n

Reform later announced he would not be standing in the May 7 election due to mental health issues.<\/p>\n

\u2018Parachuted\u2019<\/p>\n

Merthyr Tydfil Councillor Andrew Barry also quit the party this week 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 Farage last year \u2013 also expressed anger over the substantial number of Conservative defectors the party had welcomed.<\/p>\n

A Reform UK source said: \u201cEver since Farage took the leadership from Tice it\u2019s been chaos, careerists who stood on the Rishi Sunak ticket either as general election or local councillor candidates got marched in by Nigel and said they now believed in Reform.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut they were happy to stand with Sunak and all of those hopeless Tory governments and decisions.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll been a long time coming, HQ imposing Tories and preventing any role for the branches to select the people they\u2019d be told to knock doors for.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was always going to end with a nuclear fallout like this.\u201d<\/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":"Patrick Benham-Crosswell had been placed fifth on Reform\u2019s list of candidates for the G\u0175yr Abertawe seat \u2013 Image:…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":500875,"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-500874","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\/500874","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=500874"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500874\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/500875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=500874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=500874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=500874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}