A Reform UK spokesman has said it is “probably true” that Britain would have been better off had it remained neutral during the Second World War.

The claim comes after the BBC revealed that the party’s Bexhill and Battle parliamentary candidate had argued that the UK should have declined to fight Nazi Germany.

Writing online in 2022, Ian Gribbin said: "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."

Ian Gribbin, standing for the Reform party in Bexhill and Battle

In another comment, he added: "In Britain specifically we need to exorcise the cult of Churchill and recognize that in both policy and military strategy, he was abysmal."

Speaking to the JC a Reform spokesman said Britain would have been better off had it not fought Nazi Germany, but that taking on Hitler was the right thing to do nonetheless. 

The UK lost a massive amount of “blood and treasure” because of Churchill’s decision to fight, he said.

“If you’d sued for peace in the 1930s, as most of the establishment wanted us to do in the first place, the country would have had fewer people dead. Historically he has a point, but it’s not what we did.”

Defending Gribbin’s comments, the spokesman added: "We’re not going to sack him, he’s done nothing wrong.”

The Bexhill and Battle candidate also wrote that women are the “sponging gender” and are, “subsidised by men to merely breath.”

Discussing Vladamir Putin, he said: "[He] understands the bonds that create more stable societies; the hypocrisy of the West is preposterous as we stare in the face daily the enormous economic equalities created by our deluded neo liberal ideas."

Responding to the comments, a Reform UK spokesman told the BBC: "Through offence archaeology the BBC has found that Mr Gribbin has made a series of comments about a number of subjects.

"They were written with an eye to inconvenient perspectives and truths. That doesn't make them endorsements, just arguing points in long distance debates.

"His historical perspective of what the UK could have done in the 30s was shared by the vast majority of the British establishment including the BBC of its day, and is probably true.

"Again no endorsement, just pointing out conveniently forgotten truths.

"As for the feminism point, his tongue is so firmly in his cheek one should be able to spot it from 100 yards."

Several other Reform candidates have been suspended over allegedly far right comments.

Stewart Sutherland, standing in the Blaenau Gwent and Rhymney constituency in south Wales, stepped down earlier this week after The Times reported that he promoted a tweet by the leader of Britain First that said Sunak and Khan’s political success was evidence of the “Great Replacement”.

Hugo Miller, who is standing in Horsham, has been dropped by the party after social media posts came to light in which he referred to black people as “negroes” and compared them to baboons. 

Tony Mack, who was standing for the party in Clacton before Nigel Farage stepped in, shared photos of a mural featuring antisemitic tropes that was previously defended by Jeremy Corbyn.

Sharing the image on TikTok, he said Reform was the only party standing up to the “globalist agenda”.

Founded in 2018 as the Brexit Party, Reform is a populist conservative movement lead by Nigel Farage. 

It has campaigned against Covid lockdowns, and says it offers voters  "common sense policies” on immigration, the cost of living, and national sovereignty.