Reform insiders fear links to extreme figures such as Andrew Tate will scare off voters

Reform insiders are becoming increasingly irritated by the party’s association with Andrew Tate and other extreme online celebrities whose views are too toxic for the mainstream voters Nigel Farage needs to win over.Insiders have revealed that as Reform prepare for power they are trying to end their association with more controversial figures on the right such as Tate, whose extreme and misogynistic content could taint the party’s credibility.While courting online popularity before the party’s boom in the polls, their leader, Farage, appeared loth to criticise the online “manosphere” influencer. Tate is facing 21 charges for crimes including human trafficking should he ever return to the UK.In 2024, Farage said in online interviews that Tate was an “important voice” for the “emasculated” and giving boys “perhaps a bit of confidence at school”. Tate is becoming better known among mainstream voters as his conduct is reported in programmes such as Louis Theroux’s recent Netflix documentary Inside the Manosphere.Andrew Tate faces criminal and civil investigations in the UK and Romania. Photograph: Vadim Ghirdă/APPublic revulsion at Tate and his followers has caused some in Reform to warn that associating themselves with these kinds of figures could weaken the party’s appeal to female voters and the broader electorate.One source said: “Yes, I have advised Nigel and others to be more careful about who we associate with – if we are to win over a broader section of British society, we cannot be linked to unpopular characters or people who have made unsavoury comments about women.”Another senior Reform source said of Tate: “I am quite familiar with him and what he’s like, I look at his social media. He is nothing to do with Reform. We can’t help it if people that we don’t particularly want around us endorse us. There have been a few cases of that.”Reform has also struggled to shake its association with the rightwing agitator and convicted criminal Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, otherwise known as Tommy Robinson. Though the party has made it clear that he is not welcome as a member, Robinson recently endorsed Reform’s candidate Matthew Goodwin for the Gorton and Denton byelection.Tommy Robinson has been a vocal supporter of Reform UK in recent years. Photograph: Ben Whitley/PAGoodwin did not disavow Robinson, though a Reform UK spokesperson said: “We have consistently been clear on this issue. He isn’t welcome in the party.”Luke Tryl, who runs the polling company More in Common, said their research backs up the theory that associations with extreme online personalities could put new voters off Reform.He said: “We looked at the difference between Reform’s 2024 voters, hardcore ones, and their newer voters. And there is a big difference on approval of Robinson and [Elon] Musk, and even Tate. There is a big distinction between 2024 voters and their newer voters and even more so for new women.”Tryl’s research found Tommy Robinson has an approval rating of +15 with 2024 Reform voters, but new Reform voters give him a -11 approval rating, which sinks to -15 among women. Andrew Tate has a -34 negative approval rating among 2024 Reform voters, which reduces to -46 among new voters and -51 among women.“The risk then to Reform is their association with online right figures alienates the wavering female voter who ultimately will decide whether Reform gets into government,” he said. “The sort of voter who is tempted to roll the dice as the status quo feels so miserable, but is also worried Reform may be too extreme.”Tate and Robinson form just one part of a wider host of controversial figures who have associated themselves with the party’s views – not always in ways that are helpful to the party.Another figure who has been increasingly seen at Reform events is Lady Victoria Hervey. The socialite was in the audience at the Veterans for Reform event earlier this year at which Suella Braverman defected from the Conservatives. She has been a strident campaigner for the party and was recently photographed with Farage at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida.A former flame of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, she has described Jeffrey Epstein’s victims as liars and prostitutes and called anyone who was not in the Epstein files a “loser”.She recently said: “So if you were on the scene and you were powerful – like to be honest, if you’re not in those files, it would be an insult. Because it just means that you were a bit of a loser.” Hervey, who dated Andrew in 1999, is mentioned in the Epstein files 23 times.Another Mar-a-Lago guest, Holly Valance, has also been a vocal supporter of Reform. She recently split with entrepreneur Nick Candy, who financed the party.Holly Valance and Nick Candy, seen here in 2013, separated last year. Photograph: WENN Rights Ltd/AlamyThe former soap actor and pop star has gained attention recently for provocative comments such as referring to the climate campaigner Greta Thunberg as a “demonic little gremlin”. She is also an associate of Robinson, attending his Unite the Kingdom march in London. Posing in a Mega (Make England Great Again) hat, she said: “I’m very proud and pleased of Tommy – this is his redemption.”Few mainstream celebrities have vocally supported the party, but Reform UK has managed to attract support from the former model Caprice Bourret, who has become an enthusiastic backer, even joining the campaign for Laila Cunningham to be the party’s candidate for London mayor. Bourret has left heart emojis on her Instagram posts, and written an enthusiastic “you will win!”.