Nigel Farage has called out “racist abuse” directed at Laila Cunningham and revealed the message he sent to Reform’s candidate for the 2028 London Mayoral Election.
Mr Farage unveiled the Westminster City Councillor as Reform’s candidate to take on Sir Sadiq Khan at a press conference earlier this week.
However, Mrs Cunningham’s candidacy was criticised on social media, with the mother-of-seven revealing she experiences “constant” racist and misogynistic abuse online.
The former lawyer, who defected from the Tories to Reform UK last summer, is Muslim and the daughter of Egyptian parents who moved to Britain in the 1960s.
Directly addressing the abuse directed towards Mrs Cunningham, Mr Farage said: “I’m afraid Laila has had to endure a high level of really unpleasant racist abuse.
“It’s horrible and deeply nasty. I’ve spoken to her about it and said, ‘Look, just ignore it. Keep going. Keep doing what you’re doing’.”
However, Mr Farage stopped short of taking Labour’s position of potentially banning X, formerly known as Twitter.
He added: “X is a free speech platform, and many things are said on it that are deeply offensive. However, that doesn’t mean it should be banned.”
The Reform UK leader unveiled the Westminster City Councillor as his City Hall candidate earlier this week
|
GETTY
This is not the first time the Reform UK leader has defended one of his closest confidantes from racist abuse.
Reform UK’s policy chief Zia Yusuf received a “disgusting” amount of online abuse before he resigned as chairman.
Mr Farage suggested media coverage of the abuse directed towards Mr Yusuf was two-tier.
He told GB News: “What’s been said about him, over the course of the last two weeks, I mean, all of these people, had it been Diane Abbott or somebody else that had received this, I mean you can’t imagine what the media coverage would have been.
Laila Cunningham has been unveiled as Reform UK’s candidate for London Mayor at an event earlier this week | GETTY
“But because it’s us and it’s Zia, no one cares. It’s awful.”
Mr Yusuf, who is also Muslim, could even emerge as Mr Farage’s Chancellor, with the Reform UK leader describing his “inseparable” relationship with the tech tycoon.
Following Mr Yusuf’s resignation as Reform chairman, Mr Farage added: “I think the persistent campaign against him on X, and much of it coming from Indian bots, has perhaps made some Reform members question him, question his motive. It’s completely unfair.”
However, Mr Farage stopped short of supporting a potential ban of Elon Musk’s social media platform.
Zia Yusuf also faced ‘racist’ abuse on social media
|
PA“The thought of banning X from a Government that has been attacking free speech and creating a two-tier society in our country, frankly, is appalling,” the Clacton MP said ahead of his London launch last night.
But Mr Farage admitted the feature used by X’s photo-amending service Grok is “appalling”, adding: “X will need to go further [than limiting Grok to paying subscribers].”
Technology Secretary Liz Kendall last night confirmed Labour would back Ofcom if it blocks UK access to UK for failing to comply with online safety laws.
She said: “Sexually manipulating images of women and children is despicable and abhorrent.
Technology Secretary Liz Kendall took a hardline stance on X last night
|
PAMs Kendall added: “I, and more importantly the public, would expect to see Ofcom update on next steps in days not weeks.”
Mr Musk accused the UK Government of “want[ing] any excuse for censorship” as he replied to a post questioning why other AI platforms were not being looked at.
However, X announced yesterday it has limited the use of this image function to those who pay a monthly fee.
An Ofcom spokesperson said: “We urgently made contact [with X] on Monday and set a firm deadline of today [Friday] to explain themselves, to which we have received a response.”