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Byline Times is an independent, reader-funded investigative newspaper, outside of the system of the established press, reporting on ‘what the papers don’t say’ – without fear or favour.
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Byline Times is among a number of outlets who have been barred from attending Reform UK’s party conference in Birmingham this weekend.
Despite registering and receiving a ticket for the conference on August 5, this paper then received an email on September 13 from the media office withdrawing the media pass.
It said: “Thank you for your interest in acquiring accreditation for our conference this year.
“Sadly, this email is one to let you know that your application for accreditation to the Reform UK National Conference in Birmingham 20/21st of September has been rejected. Your sincerely, Reform UK Press Office.”
Byline Times has reported extensively on Reform UK, including the fact it is a limited company majority controlled by Nigel Farage. The party is reportedly changing to a more traditional party structure this weekend – albeit with some directors still plucked from a list pre-approved by Farage.
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It effectively cancelled – or deplatformed – Byline Times’ ticket:
Sam Bright, an investigative journalist for climate outlet DeSmog, which has reported on climate-science denying policies and statements from Reform UK figures, said on X: “DeSmog has been blocked also. Presumably because they’re worried we’ll report the truth about Farage and his merry band of climate deniers. Absolute snowflakes.”
Pro-EU writer and campaigner Femi Olowule said he was in “the exact same boat.”
Observer journalist Carole Cadwalladr was also excluded from the event.
On X, Farrukh of the ImplausibleBlog responded: “It’s free speech. Just not as we know it.” Chris Miller dubbed it: “A two tier approach to the media. Who would have thought it?” Farage and Reform UK claimed there had been ‘two tier policing’ against the racist riots in late July and early August.
Others claimed Farage was “terrified of free speech” in blocking sceptical media outlets.
“Good to see you’ve struck a nerve with them though. Not as free speech-y as you might imagine…” another wrote. On Threads, one reader added: “Consider it a badge of honour, if you’ve annoyed that shower then you’re doing something right.”
Free Speech Claims
Leader Nigel Farage recently dubbed PM Keir Starmer the “greatest threat to free speech in British history” following the Prime Minister’s handling of the racist riots.
The Reform UK leader accused the PM of wanting to use recent far-Right riots to restrict civil liberties. Nigel Farage does not appear to have ever spoken out against the reams of anti-protest laws passed under the Conservatives.
Farage’s supposed free speech defence came after riots in England, which the extreme Brexiteer was accused of inflaming (he denied the allegations). Following the murders in Southport in July, Nigel Farage released a video questioning “whether the truth is being withheld from us”, seeming to refer to misinformation circulating about the alleged killer’s ethnicity.
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Reform UK’s chief whip Lee Anderson MP defended the rioters this summer, claiming: “These young lads that are going out, probably had one too many, they’ve got involved with the wrong crowd, they’re throwing stones, they’re damaging stuff…These are not far-right thugs, they’re just young idiots who got carried away.”
Reform UK launched a campaign hitting out at alleged ‘two-tier policing’ against the rioters, compared to policing of Black Lives Matter. The BLM protests in the UK did not see anywhere near the scale of destruction and violence as this summer’s racist unrest.
In June last year, Farage also triggered an outcry after saying he had been “debanked” by the elite financial firm Coutts. Following a media frenzy, Dame Alison Rose – the CEO of NatWest, which owns Coutts – resigned.
Protests to Hit Reform UK Conference
Stand Up to Racism activists are preparing to protest at Reform UK’s conference in Birmingham on Friday.
It follows Brum Climate Justice Coalition launching a banner drop stunt near the venue.
Stand Up to Racism is calling on trade unions, community organisations, the Palestine and climate movement and “everyone who stands against racism and division” to join a protest at the Reform UK conference at Birmingham’s NEC at 5 pm on Friday. .
A spokesperson for the group said: “Reform’s perspective Is racist and divisive. Reform UK are not only opposed to immigration, they oppose multi-culturalism and transgender rights too.”
Reform UK claims that “record Mass immigration has damaged our country” and “the small boats crisis threatens our security”. They argue for freezing what they call non-essential immigration.
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“We say this is blatant scapegoating of migrants and such views helped to encourage the attacks on hotels housing asylum seekers. It is unacceptable to blame migrants for lack of housing and scapegoat them as criminals. This narrative is blatant far-right ideology and must be called out unequivocally,” a spokesperson for Stand Up to Racism said.
Reform UK also claims multiculturalism has “imported separate communities that reject our way of life”. Stand Up to Racism has called this “outright racism that feeds the kind of riots we saw on our streets this August.”
“We say that Britain is an ethnically and culturally diverse country and should be proud of this. We do not accept this notion of separate communities.
“The recent counter-protests against the recent far riots are evidence of how we are one community that will show solidarity and support each other when racists try to divide us. We will not stand for this,” the group said in a statement.
A Stand Up to Racism protest at the Reform UK conference will take place at the Birmingham NEC on Friday 20 September from 5 pm.
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Josiah Mortimer also writes the On the Ground column, exclusive to the print edition of Byline Times.
So for more from him…
