Reform candidate quits Senedd election after appearing to do Nazi salute

Corey Edwards, a Reform UK candidate, has resigned ahead of the upcoming Welsh Parliament election following the emergence of a photograph in which he appears to make a Nazi salute. Edwards had recently been announced as the party’s lead candidate for the Pen-y-bont Bro Morgannwg constituency. Prior to joining Reform, he served as a special adviser to Conservative Welsh Secretary David TC Davies.

Despite the controversy surrounding the image, Nigel Farage, leader of Reform UK, initially stood by Edwards. Farage acknowledged that the photo “looked terrible” and stated that he “wouldn’t approve of it,” but emphasized that Edwards would not be removed from the party based on the picture. The image, reportedly taken in 2019, was first made public by the Nation.Cymru news site on Thursday, though the exact location and circumstances remain unclear.

On Friday, a spokesman for Reform UK confirmed that Edwards had decided to step down as a candidate, citing mental health reasons. The party expressed its hopes that Edwards’s privacy would be respected during this challenging period. Edwards himself released a statement addressing the photo, explaining that he was mimicking both the character Basil Fawlty from the BBC sitcom *Fawlty Towers* and Welsh international goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey, who had been previously accused of a similar gesture but denied any wrongdoing.

Edwards acknowledged that the image, “from many years ago,” could be misunderstood and looked bad. He emphasized the difference between casually using the offensive gesture and the context of his imitation. “There is a clear distinction between ordinary use of the appalling gesture, compared with me imitating a Welsh footballer’s use of it, or indeed Basil Fawlty’s walk,” Edwards said, adding that he would “never make light” of the Nazi regime. Farage also referred to the *Fawlty Towers* episode where Basil Fawlty goosesteps and holds his finger to his nose, jokingly suggesting on ITV News, “It was a Fawlty Towers impression. Maybe we should ban the BBC, I don’t know.”

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