Reform are breathing down the neck of the Tories, according to the latest polls. So it’s perhaps no surprise then that hostilities have stepped up between spokesmen for the two parties. The Mail on Sunday has today run a two-page story on various eccentric candidates standing for Reform at the forthcoming election. Among them include a man ordered to pay £2,000 for attacking a dog in a Dorset country lane, a fortune-teller who sold spells on OnlyFans and a Covid conspiracy theorist who likened Boris Johnson to Hitler.
The story also includes a prominent quote by Jonathan Gullis, the newly-appointed Tory deputy chair, criticising Reform’s vetting process. According to Gullis, ‘We can only assume this cast of characters passed Mr Tice’s muster. We are clearly not just talking about a “few rotten eggs” here’ adding ‘If you are promoting candidates banned from looking after dogs, how can you honestly say they are capable of looking after the interests of their candidates?’
It has prompted a furious response from Reform leader Richard Tice. He took to Twitter to attack the article as a ‘hatchet job’ before labelling the Mail on Sunday the ‘Tory party’s lapdog newspaper’ and claiming it ‘ignores the multiple sexual offences of Tory MPs and candidates.’ He then issued a-not-so-subtle threat to Gullis, writing:
With a special Easter message to Tory MP Jonathan Gullis: Given the multiple bits of embarrassing personal information we have on you, I suggest you pipe down on your attacks against me.
Happy Easter Sunday, one and all.
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