Although it hasn’t so far made the mainstream news, Ant Middleton has been welcomed by Reform UK at the Makerfield by-election campaign: images on social media show the former soldier and SAS: Who Dares Wins TV presenter posing with local canvassers and with the candidate, Rob Kenyon, as well as with the party’s failed Gorton & Denton candidate, Matt Goodwin. Goodwin, as usual channelling his inner Partridge, has expressed his excitement at the development with the comment “LGF Makerfield” (1). It is not explicit that Middleton has come to support Reform over Rupert Lowe’s Restore, which threatens Kenyon’s prospects from the right, but it is a reasonable assumption.
However, when an endorsement is gratefully received it works both ways – Reform previously passed Middleton over as its prospective candidate for mayor of London, yet now embraces a man who is an ally of Tommy Robinson and who has articulated an openly racist position on ethnic minority participation in politics:
1st, 2nd & 3rd generation immigrants SHOULD NOT hold top tier government positions! Our great nation, our culture and our great people are not naturally at the forefront of their hearts & minds! It’s just not in their nature or DNA! […] Our Capital City of our Christian country needs to be run by a native Brit with generational Christian values, principles and morals coursing through their veins from which our very society was built, thrived and was forged upon.
Prior to that, Middleton promoted at least one post that contrasted him with “Pakistan-origin Mayor Sadiq Khan”. It’s not clear whether he is simply exhorting people to reject candidates based on their ethnicity or if he wants them banned from standing for office.
Back on 24 March 2025 Middleton promised to “release my side of the story tomorrow here on X” regarding the circumstances that saw him made a disqualified company director over £1 million in unpaid tax. He has not been pressed to fulfil this promise
Note
1. “LFG” apparently stands for “Let’s Fucking Go”. Performative profanity seems to be part of populist right identity, presumably to signal contempt for old-fashioned “taste and decency” conservatism. This extends to Christian nationalism, with Middleton riling up the crowd at a Tommy Robinson rally last year with the assertion that “we can’t even fucking celebrate Christmas these days without offending someone”. At the most recent Robinson rally, attendees held placards stating “Fuck Islam Christ is King”.
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