Subscriptions
Read our Monthly Magazine
And support our mission to provide fearless stories about and outside the media system
IMPACT UPDATE: Byline Times investigations have forced the suspension of two Conservative local election candidates after revealing their far-right extremist posts, and our investigation into Reform’s connections to THE COMPANY JCB cited by the Guardian. 05/05/26
Byline Times has been passed a series of Facebook messages and posts from a Reform UK candidate appearing to mock disabled residents.
The messages, sent via Facebook Messenger, show Harry Phillips, running for Reform UK in Stanwell (Surrey), calling a potential constituent and his wife “ponces of society,” mocking a woman’s health conditions as “made up ailments,” and using a series of personal insults directed at the couple, including references to their appearance.
And he is accused of insulting a stroke survivor and a person with AuDHD, stating their conditions “scream benefit scrounger and lazy c**t”, mockingly sharing her Facebook profile in a message.
Another message shows him telling the recipient that reporting his conduct to Reform UK would be ineffective because he is “a board member for Reform.”
A voice note in one of the messages, heard by Byline Times, sees Phillips appear to call a resident and his wife “a pair of skanks,” “you smelly bastard”. “She’s a beg…with a million and one disabilities, or made up afflictions.” “It screams attention seeker.” “I can smell you from your profile pictures” the voice note says. The resident says it has left his family shaken.
Harry Phillips was contacted for comment.
ENJOYING THIS ARTICLE? HELP US TO PRODUCE MORE
Receive the monthly Byline Times newspaper and help to support fearless, independent journalism that breaks stories, shapes the agenda and holds power to account.
We’re not funded by a billionaire oligarch or an offshore hedge-fund. We rely on our readers to fund our journalism. If you like what we do, please subscribe.
In response, Rory O’Brien, Reform UK Branch Chairman for Spelthorne, told this outlet he had sent an “unconditional apology” to the recipient.
He added: “Harry has been subjected to extreme levels of online abuse, stalking, and threats over the last nine months. While his recent response is not excusable, it was a significant departure from his character, triggered by this ongoing harassment and linked to the original interactions being reported.
“It is important to note, the branch weren’t aware of the full extent and escalating severity of the abuse targeting both Harry, and his family, only becoming clear to us following this recent incident.
“I have emailed the recipient to extend an unconditional apology on behalf of myself and the branch. Currently, my primary duty of care is the physical and mental well-being of our candidate.”
They added that there was an “ongoing investigation” into alleged harassment towards Harry Phillips himself. “I am not at liberty to comment further while internal and external investigations continue,” O’Brien added.
The messages were sent to local resident Chris Chessman-Tait, who says he received a “barrage of abuse” after posting a comment asking why anyone would vote for Phillips.
“He was personally attacking my wife, who had absolutely nothing to do with any of it. He’d stalked my profile and her profile, then decided to be really very ableist, showing his true colours that he isn’t fit to stand in any area for any kind of election.
“This has affected my wife quite badly…I’m quite angry over the whole thing and the way it’s affected her.”
Chessman-Tait added that he was worried what a Reform council would do to schools in the area: “He doesn’t appear to believe that anything like ADHD or autism is real. He says in the in the messages that all my wife’s disabilities are completely made up, which obviously isn’t true. About seven years ago, she actually suffered a stroke and now has no use of her left leg and has really bad memory issues…It’s all very real.”
Reform UK Refuses to Explain Why Nigel Farage Met and Posed with Man Criminally Convicted for Violent Attack on Anti-Racism Meeting at a Church
For a year-and-a-half, Byline Times has attempted to get to the bottom of a photograph showing the party’s leader with far-right activists. Now, this newspaper’s findings cast fresh doubts on Farage’s claim that he refuses to associate with extreme elements of the populist right
It follows a raft of scandals over Reform UK candidates in recent weeks, including several being exposed as former members of the BNP – banned by Farage’s party – and making racist posts.
In another case, Caspar Thomas, who was until recently Reform UK’s candidate for Hill End in St Albans, made a spate of shocking comments about Jewish people, black people, Muslims and Indians.
Byline Times and HOPE not hate revealed on Wednesday that Thomas is also an activist for Restore Britain, the rival far-right political party led by Rupert Lowe. HOPE not hate calls the scandal “another victory for Reform UK’s ‘common sense’ vetting procedure.” Reform says it has now expelled him.
In another exclusive from this outlet, an Evangelical pastor standing for Reform UK has claimed that the existence “of the land of Palestine” was a “media lie started by Yasser Arafat”, Byline Times revealed.
John Quintanilla is a pastor at the Hebron Christian Faith Church in Coventry, and a Reform UK candidate. He runs a church that funds Christian Zionist organisations donating to Israel’s war effort, and appears to be part of a growing trend towards radical pro-Israel and anti-Palestinian rhetoric within parts of Reform UK.
Got a story? Get in touch in confidence on josiah@bylinetimes.com
holding farage to account #reformUNCOVERED
While most the rest of the media seems to happy to give the handful of Reform MPs undue prominence, Byline Times is committed to tracking the activities of Nigel Farage’s party when actually in power
Contribute to our #ReformUncovered crowdfunder
Subscribers Get More from JOSIAH
Subscribers Get More from JOSIAHJosiah Mortimer also writes the On the Ground column, exclusive to the print edition of Byline Times.
So for more from him…
