Swansea Reform UK candidate quits in furious ‘betrayal’ rant – ‘Party has sunk into the sewer!’

Patrick Benham-Crosswell, a long-standing member and former candidate who secured 17.5% of the vote in Swansea in the 2024 general election, announced his departure in a scathing Facebook post.

He declared: “In truth, Reform has left me.”

Benham-Crosswell, who was placed fifth on the new candidate list behind an “ex-Tory on the make and three novices,” launched a blistering attack on the party’s direction.

He accused Reform of “betraying its early members’ vision, labour and achievements” and becoming a party that takes its volunteers “for granted.”

His post highlighted a shift within Reform UK, stating: “The ‘professionalisation’ of the party has led it to take its members and candidates for granted. Communications that once began ‘Thank you’ now more often start ‘You are required to…’

“The party’s employees in Millbank forget that branch officers and candidates are unpaid volunteers.”

The former candidate, who was an active member since Reform’s inception and the Brexit Party before that, did not hold back on the candidate selection process.

He alleged: “Across Wales the candidate appointment does not reflect how people performed in the selection process; I know because I was there. In many constituencies those at the top of the list are not the best. Far too many are Tories – and the Reform vote will suffer.”

This isn’t the first time such claims have rocked Reform UK in Wales; a Senedd hopeful previously quit the party over allegations of a rigged selection process in Pembrokeshire and Ceredigion.

Francesca O’Brien, who defected from the Conservatives last year, tops the list of candidates for Reform in Swansea and Gower.

Benham-Crosswell dismissed any suggestion of “petulance or sour grapes” over his low placing, insisting it confirmed his fears that “Reform is no longer open or honest.”

“Politics is a dirty game, but Reform has sunk deep into the sewer when it should have been a beacon of decency,” he wrote.

He concluded his explosive statement by saying: “Politics should be about openness, decency and serving the country, which it once was in Reform. Politics is (or should be) about people, not process. Principles, not opportunism. Passion, not career building.”

His explosive resignation raises the question: Is Reform UK starting to implode before the election has even taken place?

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