Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has accused Reform of being “crybabies” over her party’s chairman’s social media post which compared Reform UK to the Nazis.
Kevin Hollinrake made the controversial comparison likening Nigel Farage’s party badge on its new merchandise to that of Adolf Hitler’s, stirring up ample retaliation.
Mr Farage had shared an image of a black and gold Reform badge to promote a “collector’s edition” party football shirt.
But, in response, Mr Hollinrake responded with an image of the “Golden Party Badge”, which was awarded to the first 100,000 people who joined the Nazis.
Mr Hollinrake then proceeded to delete the image, before re-sharing a link to the Wikipedia page about the badge not long after.
Last May, Mr Farage’s party pummelled Ms Badenoch’s gaggle of councillors at the polls, snatching control of councils up and down the country in true blue Tory heartlands.
GB News presenter Camilla Tominey questioned Ms Badenoch on why she has a chairman “tweeting ridiculous things” just months before the Tories “face the fight of their life next May” at the next round of local elections.
“Kevin Hollinrake is a fantastic chairman, I 100 per cent back him. I thought it was funny,” Mrs Badenoch told the People’s Channel.
“Maybe other people would not have found it funny.
“He didn’t call anybody a Nazi. Reform need to stop saying this. The implication is that they don’t pay attention to a lot of the things they say,” Ms Badenoch argued.
“I saw Fulham FC last night on the telly. They’ve got a black shirt with a gold badge,” Camilla pointed out. “Are they all Nazis?”
“But they’re not a political party and nobody called them Nazis. This is a lot of crybaby behaviour, which we need to stop,” the North West Essex MP declared.
REFORM-TORY NAZI ROW – READ MORE:
Mrs Badenoch said the ‘joke’ was ‘funny’
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GB NEWS
Asked if she believes Reform is “Nazi-adjacent” in any way, she responded quickly: “No, no, no. But if someone does something, we can say, well, this has happened in history.
“Look at that. It’s Twitter. He made a joke. People might not find it funny, but right now, what’s really important is what’s happening to all those people out there who are worried about their money.”
“If that’s so important, why is Hollinrake tweeting such nonsense?” the GB News presenter interjected.
Mrs Badenoch then admitted she had not sanctioned the chairman, admitting: “I thought it was funny. I stand by him. Kevin Hollinrake is one of the people who’s helping me do a better job, so I won’t have a single word set against him.”
Reform’s policy chief Zia Yusuf previously dubbed Ms Badenoch the “gift that keeps on giving” after blasting the Tory chairman for making such a comparison in the wake of the controversy.
Speaking on GB News, he added: “”It was not that long ago, of course, that Charlie Kirk was assassinated, in no small part because of extremely dangerous rhetoric.
“I mean, he was also labelled with these sort of slurs. It’s deeply offensive, by the way, to the untold millions whose lives were destroyed by the Nazis.
“So I’m sorry if he thought it was a joke. It’s certainly not funny.”