A REFORM Party candidate has been labelled “even more of a fruitcake than Nigel Farage” after it emerged he was once arrested for “attempted murder” when a man fell into the River Trent.
Rob Palmer, 49, got into trouble when he moved into a house with his dad and found a man fishing in his new garden, which backed onto the river.
Reform candidate Rob Palmer was once arrested for ‘attempted murder’Reform UK
AlamyOne local branded him ‘more of a fruitcake than Farage’[/caption]
The pair argued and the confrontation ended with the man in the river.
Mr Palmer said: “There was a man fishing in what was our back garden and I told him he was in our garden and he told me to f*** off’.
“He pointed his finger at me, I grabbed it thinking he was coming for me, then lost his balance and fell in.
“I was arrested. They were talking about attempted murder at one stage but nothing came of it.”
Mr Palmer, who is hoping to remove former Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick from his Newark seat, also admitted he has repeatedly been barred from his village pub The Bromley in Fiskerton, Lincs, and once sat naked at the bar drinking pints.
But he denies other claims that he once walked into the pub armed with a chainsaw.
He said: “I’ve been banned from The Bromley more times than I can remember.
I never took my chainsaw into the pub but I did sit naked in there with my mate.
“The ladies had booked a male stripper and after he went, they were a bit lively so, under some pressure, we took our clothes off and sat on the stools enjoying a beer.”
Mr Palmer admitted his most recent pub ban came during Covid when he called the former assistant manager a “face mask Nazi” for insisting he wear a covering.
He has also frequently clashed with the pub owners thanks to a shared car park.
At one point he set up a parking meter to charge those parking next to his house, and said one of their signs was on his land.
‘I ended up taking a chainsaw to their sign which was on my land,’ he said. ‘I got arrested but I was in the right.”
Villager Jenny Oliver said: “We call him the mad hatter of Fiskerton. He’s an absolute nutter. He should be sectioned, not put in Parliament.”
Retired Tory councillor Roger Blaney said: “He’s even more of a fruitcake than Farage and that’s saying something.”
Reform leader Nigel Farage has vowed to sue the party’s election candidate vetting company after a string of controversies hit candidates standing for the newly formed party.
Nearly one in 10 candidates standing for Reform in England are Facebook “friends” with British fascist leader Gary Raikes.
Another candidate praised Adolf Hitler as “brilliant” due to his ability “to inspire people to action” while another called Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine “legitimate.”