Patrick Benham-Crosswell, a long-standing member and former candidate who secured 17.5% of the vote in Swansea in the 2024 general election, announced his departure in a scathing Facebook post.
He declared: “In truth, Reform has left me.”
Benham-Crosswell, who was placed fifth on the new candidate list behind an “ex-Tory on the make and three novices,” launched a blistering attack on the party’s direction.
He accused Reform of “betraying its early members’ vision, labour and achievements” and becoming a party that takes its volunteers “for granted.”
His post highlighted a shift within Reform UK, stating: “The ‘professionalisation’ of the party has led it to take its members and candidates for granted. Communications that once began ‘Thank you’ now more often start ‘You are required to…’
“The party’s employees in Millbank forget that branch officers and candidates are unpaid volunteers.”
The former candidate, who was an active member since Reform’s inception and the Brexit Party before that, did not hold back on the candidate selection process.
He alleged: “Across Wales the candidate appointment does not reflect how people performed in the selection process; I know because I was there. In many constituencies those at the top of the list are not the best. Far too many are Tories – and the Reform vote will suffer.”
This isn’t the first time such claims have rocked Reform UK in Wales; a Senedd hopeful previously quit the party over allegations of a rigged selection process in Pembrokeshire and Ceredigion.
Francesca O’Brien, who defected from the Conservatives last year, tops the list of candidates for Reform in Swansea and Gower.
Benham-Crosswell dismissed any suggestion of “petulance or sour grapes” over his low placing, insisting it confirmed his fears that “Reform is no longer open or honest.”
“Politics is a dirty game, but Reform has sunk deep into the sewer when it should have been a beacon of decency,” he wrote.
He concluded his explosive statement by saying: “Politics should be about openness, decency and serving the country, which it once was in Reform. Politics is (or should be) about people, not process. Principles, not opportunism. Passion, not career building.”
His explosive resignation raises the question: Is Reform UK starting to implode before the election has even taken place?
All Reform candidates in Wales have been imposed from outside. A telling indication of how they would treat Wales if they ever got power.
Absolute codswallop. If people cannot see how 26 years of Labour has treated Wales then they are seriously deluded. Torsten Bell an imported posh boy is a fine example for Swansea West. Don’t get me started on Deluded Morgan or the Senedd. As for Rob Stewart the leader of Swansea council a narcissist and full of his own self importance filling Swansea with empty office buildings, vape shops and barbers. Reform is the answer not Plaid Cymru, Labour in disguise or the dangerous Greens. Wake up!
Mario, if deform are the answer you clearly mis understand the question
You clearly haven’t grown up yet. Deform? About the level of ignorance on your understanding of how Labour have destroyed Wales. It’s Reform, so when you have lived through the Wilson/Callaghan and Blair eras and the corrupt Swansea council of yesteryear, when you know what you are talking about come back. If wit were sh** you’d need constipation tablets.
What was the question?