Mr Gribbin is reported to have posted on the Unherd website in 2022 that: “Britain would be in a far better state today had we taken Hitler up on his offer of neutrality … but oh no Britain’s warped mindset values weird notions of international morality rather than looking after its own people.”
‘Panorama’ special postponed as Reform UK party faces row over candidate who claimed UK would have been ‘better off’ if it had ‘taken Hitler up on his offer of neutrality’ instead of fighting the Nazis
Nigel Farage has pulled out of a high-profile BBC interview as his Reform UK party faces a row over whether the UK should have appeased Hitler.
The former Ukip leader was due to take part in a Panorama special with Nick Robinson, set to have been broadcast on Tuesday night.
But it has been pulled from the schedule and postponed, despite Mr Farage continuing to campaign in Barnsley and Nottinghamshire.
It comes less than 24 hours after it emerged one of his candidates claimed the country would have been “far better” off if it had “taken Hitler up on his offer of neutrality” instead of fighting the Nazis.
Ian Gribbin, who is standing in Bexhill and Battle, also described Winston Churchill as “abysmal” and praised Russian president Vladimir Putin, according to the BBC
He also claimed online that women were the “sponging gender” and should be “deprived of health care”.
A Reform spokesman said the comments were not “endorsements” but “written with an eye to inconvenient perspectives and truths”.
And the remarks about women were described as “tongue in cheek”.
Mr Farage tried to brush aside the row on Monday, saying that “every party will suffer” controversy triggered by its candidates in a snap election.
But the row is awkward for Reform as it seeks to capitalize on outrage over Rishi Sunak’s D-Day gaffe last week, when the prime minister left international commemorations early.
Mr Gribbin is reported to have posted on the Unheard website in 2022 that: “Britain would be in a far better state today had we taken Hitler up on his offer of neutrality … but oh no Britain’s warped mindset values weird notions of international morality rather than looking after its own people.”
