The aftershock of the Manning tweets continues. To recap, Mike Manning was the Reform UK candidate for the Zetland Ward local by-election in Redcar and Cleveland, which will take place on 19 February.
But Reform Exposed managed to find and capture Manning’s tweets before he closed his account. The tweets are a pick ‘n’ mix of racist, islamophobic and antisemitic posts, which you can read here.
After the tweets were exposed, Manning apologised and resigned from Reform. But the scandal has begged questions about the due diligence employed in selecting Reform candidates.
The revelations occurred after Manning’s name or Reform’s details could be removed from the ballot sheet and after a new candidate could be registered.
This has led the Reform UK Redcar Branch Facebook page to lay the blame at the feet of the Labour Party and LibDems. As reported by the BBC, the page accused the other party leaders of keeping the discovery of the tweets under wraps until it was too late to select a replacement Reform candidate.
The local LibDem and Labour leaders have poo-pooed the accusations.
The Redcar Reform page has also reported a further development- the local rugby club has banned Reform from using their premises for meetings.
The Redcar Reform Facebook page is administered by Steve Turner. The former Tory Police and Crime Commissioner, Turner lost re-election in May 2024.
Together with his wife Andrea (a former Tory leader at Redcar and Cleveland council), Turner joined Reform last year and became Branch Chair.
The Turners are close allies of Tory Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen. There is currently speculation about Houchen’s possible defection to Reform.
But the Manning affair could result in Turner’s role in selection coming under scrutiny and Reform’s local image being tarnished. That is if Nigel Farage’s threat of an inquiry into the case is carried out.
