Exclusive:'We're all human': Richard Tice responds to Reform Sheffield candidate accused of praising Nazis

Opposition parties have called for Reform to axe Nathaniel Menday, the party’s candidate for Woodhouse in Thursday’s elections, after he admitted he had “flirted with … far right ideology”.

The Times reported that Mr Menday called himself an ethno-nationalist and asked a Sheffield United fan to add a sonnenrad “sun wheel” emblem - which is widely used by neo-Nazis - to a flag.

In 2024, he shared a photo of Berlin’s Olympiastadion, saying: “Whichever group of people built this must have been real visionaries!”

The stadium was built by the Nazis to host the 1936 Olympics and designed by Albert Speer, who was convicted at the Nuremberg trials of crimes against humanity.

He also suggested that “Jewish people in the West” were responsible for anti-Semitism, according to The Times, because they “overwhelmingly favour open borders”.

Mr Menday told the paper he apologised for bringing Reform “into disrepute”.

He said he enjoyed “risky humour and pushing boundaries”, but claimed: “I am not antisemitic nor do I have any Nazi sympathies.”

“I have flirted with what could reasonably be referred to as ‘far-right ideology’ but ultimately I have come to reject its core tenets,” he said.

“I am passionate about my country but I am and always have been motivated by love, not hate.”

Mr Tice, Reform’s deputy leader, told The Yorkshire Post that Mr Menday would be assessed if he is elected and “decisions will be made”.

He described the revelations in The Times as “a long list of stuff, some of which looked bad and some of which, frankly, is pathetic”.

He said: “If people are elected, they'll all be looked at by the team, and decisions will be made.

“We do that, as do the other parties, and that’s just the facts of life if you’ve got 4,900 candidates.

“We're all human. Many of these people are standing for the first time. They're passionate about trying to improve things.

“Have many people in their private lives occasionally sworn, thought something dark, said something dark? Yes, we're all human.”

Mr Tice claimed that the media “playing gotcha politics” will “end up preventing anybody [from standing] who might have said anything or written anything at any point in the past”.

He added: “As a democracy, I think we've got to think very, very carefully - is that the route that we are going to head down?

“We've headed down that route very dramatically in the last two years since our appearance in the general election in 2024.

“I just think we've got to be careful. We want to get it right. We want to be perfect. None of us are perfect.”

Tom Hunt, the Labour leader in Sheffield, described Mr Tice’s comments as “a pathetic response”.

He said Mr Menday’s posts “were appalling and sickening”, adding: “Frankly it tells you everything you need to know about Reform that they’ve allowed this man to stand as a candidate.”

Kevin Hollinrake, Conservative Party chairman and MP for Thirsk and Malton, said Reform should “urgently explain what vetting was carried out … and what action will now be taken”.