EXCLUSIVE: Reform UK's extreme vetting will reject Ant Middleton while Suella put off by Rupert Lowe treatment

Senior party officials tell me there are growing fears the paranoia over screening of candidates & members is causing top talent to walk out the door

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Over 10,000 patriots will gather in Birmingham tonight for what Reform UK promises is the biggest political rally in 15 years – and before the party reported its top performing MP Rupert Lowe to the police the momentum was undoubtedly with this Nigel Farage-led insurgent force.

But what hasn’t been reported is the chilling effect of the party’s hyper vigilant vetting policy, which I have spent weeks looking into.

Hundreds of loyal party members and activists, including many in local branch leadership positions, have not passed the stringent new standards, which include having expressed any support online for Tommy Robinson.

But senior party officials tell me there are growing fears the paranoia over vetting is causing top talent to walk out the door.

I’ve learned a top female businesswoman recently failed vetting and was rejected because as a 16-year-old she was convicted of shoplifting.

Decades on, she has turned her life around and become a model citizen. Surely the sort of rags to riches story that would make her an inspiring candidate? But no.

That means one of four Reform MPs James McMurdock, whose teenage assault conviction has been spoken about far too much in the MSM, would also not pass vetting today.

My reporting has also revealed that Ant Middleton, the SAS hero and TV star who has been very publicly positioning himself to run against Sadiq Khan on a Reform ticket for the next London mayoral election, will also not pass vetting.

SUELLA DOESN’T WANT TO TAKE RISK

Meanwhile, the brutal cancellation of Rupert has had a significant impact on recruitment, not only of members, which has stalled, but high profile Tory defections too.

A source close to former Home Secretary Suella Braverman has told me she was mortified watching the treatment of Rupert and has openly asked why she would take the risk of the same thing happening to her.

And while the poll ratings have remained relatively steady, although there is a clear halt of momentum, some think the soul of the party is being ripped out.

Take this from Carl Benjamin, who wrote, "Reform members keep messaging me to inform me that the internal state of the party is a shambles”, and pointed to an example of an entire board resigning in protest.

But I want to be fair and, even though it doesn’t please either side, keep presenting both arguments.

So here they are…

From Reform activist Jack Eccles: “NIGEL FARAGE says in Doncaster… no one has heard of Rupert Lowe. There is a strong case to be made outside of Twitter Lowe is completely IRRELEVANT. His supporters seem to be fading away day by day.”

Contrast that with YouTuber and Tommy supporter Paul Thorpe who wrote: “It's very clear there is a BIG divide between Reform 'voters' and 'supporters'. There are those that want REAL Reform, and there are those HOPING for Reform. Either way, we are on the same side, we just see the route to victory differently. Everyone is entitled to their beliefs and opinions. Mine is that NF will not deliver the true Reform we want or need.”

FARAGE CALLS STARMER “PERFECTLY DECENT”

Nigel’s cosy gin and tonic lunch with Westminster journalists yesterday while he continues to ignore independent journalists hasn’t helped as he said he "admires" Keir Starmer and that he's a "perfectly decent human being"

I have to admit I struggle to see how you can ignore someone waging class warfare on the country, gaslighting us all about the real reasons behind the destruction of the economy, throwing open the borders, tanking the economy, waging two tier justice and consistently lying to us about important national issues like the Southport Massacre.

Not to mention locking up grandmothers for over two years for Facebook posts.

There is nothing perfectly decent about that to me. Indeed, it’s the definition of evil.

Describing the Tories as "boring old bastards" goes down a lot better, to be honest.

But as Nigel gathers the Reform faithful in Birmingham tonight, it really is worth remembering the dire state of our country and why you need to stop alienating your base.

Rejecting a top businesswoman because of a shoplifting conviction decades earlier or a patriot for believing Tommy Robinson is a political prisoner is madness.

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