Reform's new chairman once called Farage an idiot
The new chairman of Reform UK once called its leader Nigel Farage an 'idiot' and criticised comments by him as 'dangerous'.
The remarks by Dr David Bull have emerged after his appointment to the role was announced on Tuesday.
He replaces Zia Yusuf, who resigned as Reform's chairman last week before rejoining the party just two days later to take up a different senior position.
Dr Bull previously publicly disagreed with Mr Farage over comments he made in 2014 about migrants with HIV.
He also shared several posts on his Twitter profile criticising Donald Trump, including calling his first inauguration speech in 2017 'awful'.
During his time as Ukip leader, Mr Farage suggested HIV-positive immigrants should not be allowed to come to the UK and receive treatment on the NHS. He said it should not be used as a 'global health service' because of a lack of resources.
Sharing an article about Mr Farage's comments, Dr Bull wrote: 'Nigel Farage's comments are ill-judged, prejudiced and dangerous. HIV can affect anyone regardless of sex, race and class'.
In the post, still visible online, he added: '#idiot #unhelpful'.
Dr Bull, 56, is a long-time ally of Mr Farage and has previously held roles in both Reform and its former iteration the Brexit Party. He served as an MEP for North West England between 2019 and 2020.
Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Mr Yusuf said he was 'hugely excited' that Dr Bull was taking up the role, adding: 'This party is no longer a start-up.
'I think it's gone to a scale-up phase... the reality is what we need now in a chairman is someone who is an incredible communicator, someone who's loved universally across the party... someone who's going to I think do a better job than me at energising volunteers on the front line.'
Mr Yusuf added: 'I wholeheartedly congratulate him, and I know he's going to do an incredible job for us.'
Meanwhile, Mr Farage said Dr Bull would come to the chairman's role with 'terrific verve, energy, enthusiasm'. He described him as a 'terrific communicator' and said his 'job is not to get involved with the admin, is not to get involved in the tech' but to 'give leadership to that volunteer army out there of people'.
Dr Bull's negative comments about Mr Trump, who is close to Mr Farage, included calling him a 'fool' for saying during the 2016 presidential campaign that he wanted to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.
Commenting on the Republican's first inauguration speech in January 2017, he wrote: 'It's…… um….. awful'.
He also condemned Lord Mackinlay, the former Conservative MP, for opposing LGBT-inclusive sex education in schools.
Sharing an article by Pink News, an LGBT-led media outlet, in 2017, Dr Bull called him a 'total idiot' and said that 'inclusive' sex education 'must be compulsory'.
In 2014, Ukip, when led by Mr Farage, proposed banning sex education in primary schools. But Mr Farage said at the time that he had ' never advocated that policy '.
Last year, Mr Farage said there 'perhaps' was not a 'straightforward answer' to what age children should be taught about sex and relationships.
In May last year, he told GB News that there was 'little doubt that there are some schools that have been teaching very inappropriate material'.
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