Is Reform UK relaxing its vetting of election candidates?

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Rejected Reform UK candidates in East Thanet are being encouraged to apply again under what are described as a new set of “common sense” standards.

Josiah Mortimer on Byline Times reports:

A post on July 4 by Reform UK’s official East Thanet Facebook page stated the party has adopted a new set of vetting standards as of July 7, which are “more proportionate than before”. They claim to give more weight to “individual freedom of expression” – despite following a slew of scandals involving Reform candidates posting racist content online. 

In a call for candidates following the apparent overhaul of their vetting standards, the East Thanet Reform post states: “We’re treating this as a blank slate. If you have previously failed vetting, you are strongly encouraged to reapply under the new standards…Priority will be given to re-vetting” – i.e. giving people previously rejected as unfit for office a second bite of the cherry. 

The question is whether this is the first sighting of a new national Reform policy on candidate approval, or just one local party going rogue or getting hold of the wrong end of the stick.

If it is a new national policy then, given the problems Reform was having with the candidates who emerged from its more restrictive system, we'd better lay in supplies of popcorn.