Ian Smith

40 years in primary education. 50 years supporting Brighton and Hove Albion. #findmeonbluesky @seagullsmith.bsky.social

[Ian Smith @SeagullSmith]

@Nigel_Farage Schoolboy Farage at it again. W⚓️

[Ian Smith @SeagullSmith]

It’s easy to dismiss her as hysterical & ridicule her ridiculous level of hyperbole. But what she says is just the kind of damaging talking down of our country a malign state leader would want to hear. It’s what they would say but she does it for them. & given her past history….

[Tony D @tonyd21a]

@ThatAlexWoman You support tyrants FFS!

https://t.co/1iB1xcFNja

[Tony D @tonyd21a]

@ThatAlexWoman You support tyrants FFS!

https://t.co/1iB1xcFNja

[Andy Snowden @RealAndySnowden]

@ThatAlexWoman @angelalevin1 Reminds me of this!! 🤣😂

[Ian Smith @SeagullSmith]

And maybe if he didn’t brand anyone he disagrees with a ‘traitor’ that might help create a less toxic atmosphere.

[🇬🇧King 🇬🇧 @King0243_PJC]

Muhammad Ziauddin Yusuf, spare us the “media created an environment of hostility for Reform” routine.

Your party branded migration an “invasion,” warned of “catastrophic sectarian violence,” and Farage demanded “pure cold rage.”

You don’t pour that petrol into the polity then clutch pearls when the flames and threats come back.

The heat has your fingerprints all over it. Stop gaslighting. Own the environment you help to create.

[GET A GRIP @docrussjackson]

Two-tier outrage.

In March 2024, it was revealed that Frank Hester, the Conservative Party's biggest donor, had said in a 2019 meeting that seeing Diane Abbott (the UK's longest-serving Black MP) on TV made him "want to hate all black women" and that "she should be shot," while making other violent and derogatory remarks about her and a female executive.

Hester apologised for being "rude," and insisted the comments had nothing to do with race or gender; the Conservatives accepted his remorse, refused to return his millions in donations (and later took more), and largely moved on despite police investigations into his remarks.

Prominent right-leaning and populist figures, who often sharply criticise leftists on issues like extremism, free speech, or selective outrage, failed to strongly condemn Hester, or echoed excuses that downplayed the remarks simply as non-racial rudeness.

Robert Jenrick did not issue a condemnation and aligned with the party's stance of accepting the apology while keeping the funds; later, as a leadership contender, he and others avoided ruling out future donations from Hester.

Nigel Farage offered no major public defence or attack on the story amid the timing of Lee Anderson's defection to Reform, with coverage focusing more on broader Tory woes than Farage weighing in directly—consistent with his pattern of prioritising other culture-war fronts.

Lee Anderson (then a populist Tory deputy chairman who soon defected to Reform) was not notably vocal on Hester; the scandal overlapped with his own suspension over Islamophobic remarks, framing a period of right-wing grievance rather than unified outrage over the donor's words.

Reform UK’s then-leader (now chairman), Richard Tice offered no public intervention or comment on the Hester row.

Preductably, right-wing UK media (e.g., The Telegraph, Daily Mail, Daily Express, GB News, The Sun, and The Spectator) generally framed the incident as an overblown or private controversy, emphasising Hester’s apology, and downplaying racism allegations.

Overall, the episode was treated by many on the populist right as an overblown private comment rather than a serious threat, contrasting with their critiques of left-wing rhetoric, while Abbott described the remarks as frightening given recent MP murders.

Hester faced no charges or major consequences beyond the initial backlash. I think we all know how elite-populist politicians would react now if a Labour, LidDem, SNP or Green party donor were to say any of them "should be shot".

[Ian Smith @SeagullSmith]

@reformexposed @BMaittland79384 If it’s not a ploy why did he resign and call a a by election?

[Ian Smith @SeagullSmith]

@reformexposed @BMaittland79384 ‘Few in Westminster believe that Farage will lose on Aug. 13. Clacton is as close to diehard Farage territory as it gets (he won 46 percent of the vote at the last general election). But how the ploy affects his standing with the nation at large is another matter.’

[andy twelves @andytwelves]

Given Reform's Press Conference today about MP safety, worth revisiting this clip of sitting Reform MP Sarah Pochin, and Reform supporter Jeremy Kyle laughing on TV at the firebombing of the Prime Minister's house...

[The Rev. Anton Mittens 🌹👮🎓 @MittensOff]

The Home Office call Reform UK's Honest Bob Jenrick a liar.

[Ian Smith @SeagullSmith]

Is he actually speaking to an audience or just pretending to?

[Politics UK @PolitlcsUK]

🚨 WATCH: Zia Yusuf attacks the media for creating an "environment of such hostility for Reform"

"Those who question Nigel Farage’s need for security should stop"

[Ian Smith @SeagullSmith]

‘He made me do it’.

[Levelling down @LevellingDown]

LATEST PLOT TWIST.

Starmer made me speculate callously and unnecessarily, insists Nigel Farage.

https://t.co/13u4eQMFLG

[Ian Smith @SeagullSmith]

@DPJHodges @BMaittland79384 Isn’t this new ‘policy’ just a bit reactive? Is this how a Reform government would act? 🤷‍♂️

[BangbangBronson @bangbangboom22]

@drchrisnewton Starmer isn't friends with crypto criminals, didn't receive £millions from foreign billionaires. Wasn't friends with convicted Russian assets, etc, etc.
Farage has had a free ride for too long. He's dirty, sleezy and corrupt.
Why are you simping for such an obvious spiv?

[Ziggy & Zwela @Ziggy_Zwela]

@CatharineHoey @Nigel_Farage @AllisonPearson You're all such whiny snowflakes with your big huge victimhood complex, you can dish it out but you really cannot take it, we know somebody else who famously used the strategies you're using.

[Ian Smith @SeagullSmith]

‘Anyone who disagrees with or challenges us? And don’t call me ‘far right’ 😡😉

[Jamie Kay @TheRealJamieKay]

Can any on the far-right define ‘The Establishment’?

[Ian Smith @SeagullSmith]

@danwootton So you characterise reporting stories Farage seemed to want hidden as ‘inciting hatred’. You felt his denials were enough to just leave any further questioning? Were similar stories about Starmer also ‘inciting hatred’ or did you just feel he was fair game?

[Just Dave now @justdavenow89]

edwina currie knows why farage turned down the gov security

[Ian Smith @SeagullSmith]

His appeal to the people gets their votes necessary to gain power & enact the deregulated financial landscape his billionaire donors & the acquisitively wealthy like himself expect. Sadly his poorer supporters have not yet realised how bad this change will be for them.

[Don McGowan @donmcgowan]

The perpetuating myth that Farage is a 'man of the people' has long been one that foxed me.

Because, let's be honest, Nigel Farage is as much of a 'man of the people' as I am an Olympic gymnast.

From Commodities trader and fully paid up Thatcherite Conservative in the 80s and 90s — to multimillionaire gold elevator dweller, Farage has never seen himself or acted like a 'man of the people'.

Brexit made him a millionaire several times over, and he's been dining out on it ever since.

We can see a great deal of his earnings now as he is forced to declare them in his MPs Register of Interests, but many are still squirrelled away from the public eye.

Such as his commercial fishing trawler and, up to, seven houses bought with cash.

These are dealt with through his company Thorn in the Side Ltd. but there is more income he's hiding. We only know about the bonus £5M because of a leak to the Guardian, so what else is he covering up?

A property in the Cayman Islands? Perhaps.

But I digress slightly from the original point — Farage, 'man of the people', has never been accurate; it was a label he attached to himself during his UKIP days and must be amazed that the press still use it to this day.

His courting of Donald Trump is the icing on top of the golden cake he baked for himself.

Man of the people? No. Self constructed veneer of a wealthy grifter? Yes.

[Liz Webster @LizWebsterSBF]

🔥 @DannyFink nails it: Farage is arguing for immunity from normal accountability!

And apparently immunity from his own ideology too.

Reform lecture the country about welfare and state dependency.

Farage turned down state-funded security, used security to justify a £5m gift and now we’re told the taxpayer should fund his protection.

State support for me, austerity for thee.