One of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK candidates has been exposed for posting racist comments on social media, including declaring white people the “master race.” Stuart Prior, who is standing in Essex in next month’s local elections, made a series of hateful remarks just months ago. The property company director appeared to celebrate the rape of Punjabi and Sikh women, suggested black people have smaller brains, and branded Muslims “rats.”
His extreme comments, posted on an X account under his name, were uncovered in a joint investigation with anti-racism group Hope Not Hate (HnH). When confronted by reporters at his detached property in an Essex village, Prior denied being a racist.
Prior’s X account is thought to have been deleted earlier this year. He is standing in Rayleigh West for a county council seat, as well as in Sweyne Park and Grange, part of Rochford District Council.
Joe Mulhall, HnH’s director of research, said: “Of all the racist and extreme Reform candidates we’ve found, Stuart Prior is one of the worst. Reform’s decision to select Stuart Prior shows that the people of Essex deserve far better.”
Contacted by the Mirror, Reform UK said it was “looking into” Prior’s posts. The revelations are the latest blow for Farage’s party and its vetting standards. Last month, the Mirror exposed several Reform candidates with extreme views, including one who was a fan of fascist leader Oswald Mosley.
In December, Prior wrote: “As the master race, they can do as they please” in response to a tweet about white women wearing braids. In October, he reposted a tweet about attacks on Punjabi and Sikh women, adding “good. reap it.” In November, Prior suggested white people have larger brains than black people, writing: “Larger brains. Google which race has the smallest brain… Then, once you have that answer, Google whether brain size dictates intelligence in humans.”
The same month, Prior declared: “There cannot be a genocide against Muslims. It’s only ever self defence against those rats.” He also used a racial slur in response to a video of a black man on a tube train. In November, he wrote: “If this was caused by another third world invader, then this country needs a purge. From North to South and from East to West.”
When confronted, Prior denied recalling the tweets, saying: “I don’t recall that at all, blimey.” He also claimed that a tweet referring to immigrants as a “cancer” looked “like something that’s been created against me.”
