Richard Tice sacked a Reform UK candidate live on air for posting "inappropriate" content on social media.
David Carpin, who was previously the candidate for Henley and Thame, was criticised for several social media posts, one of which saw him put pictures of transgender swimmer Lia Thomas, transgender TikToker Dylan Mulvaney, and non-binary singer Sam Smith alongside the Nazi leader and asked who people would save from a burning room.
Other posts described trans women as “mentally ill men” and LGBTQ+ pride as a “sin”.
Asked about the posts, the Reform UK leader said: "So he has posted some inappropriate and frankly daft stuff. We're a serious political party and I've told our candidates, you don't put daft stuff up there."
Richard Tice sacked a Reform UK candidate live on air for posting "inappropriate" content on social media
GBNEWS
Asked about one Facebook post, which saw Carpin post a mock up of the EU flag replacing stars with yellow swastikas, Tice responded: "And so he's an ex candidate. I've fired him. He's not a candidate. And that's the point.
"I'm a serious leader that will take decisions immediately when they need to be taken.
"He's gone. He's done. And people need to learn a lesson that - look, you've got freedom of expression, that's the joy of being in a democracy like ours. But I've also got freedom of choice as to who is going to be my candidate and he's not going to be one of them."
Asked if he was concerned about his party's vetting process, Tice said: "He was vetted before this. And then at some point, I don't know, he's done somethign daft, written something daft, post-the vetting procedure.
"They've all been told, don't do this stuff. And if you do, you're going to be fired. Its as simple as that. We've got lots more candidates. Great candidates applying. And people need to understand this.
"But I'm not going to take lessons from any other political party, when you see what happened in the Labour Party with Azhar Ali, who was nominated with hsi deeply anti-semitic comments and views clearly held by others in that meeting."
Other posts described trans women as “mentally ill men” and LGBTQ+ pride as a “sin”
Conservative parliamentary candidate for the Henley and Thame seat, Caroline Newton, said the posts were "staggeringly insensitive and comtemptible".
She told the Oxford Mail: “Freedom, including freedom of speech, is something millions died for last century.
“Invoking Adolf Hitler and Nazi symbols in defence of it is staggeringly insensitive and contemptible.”
Meanwhile, Sean Woodcock - Labour's candidate for Banbury - added: "To invoke Hitler in a live and legitimate debate about trans people and their rights, is not only idiotic but similarly unacceptable and offensive.
"Whatever your views on Brexit, to compare the European Union to a regime that is responsible for a world war that led to tens of millions of deaths including the cold-blooded murder of six million Jews in death camps, is sick and utterly unacceptable.
"It's insulting to the memory of the victims of that barbaric regime.
"It is also an insult to those service personnel, some of whom are still alive and living in the Henley and Thame constituency, who fought against that regime. Mr Carpin is clearly not fit to be an MP."
