A Reform UK candidate in the local elections described the Covid-19 pandemic as a “holocaust” and claimed NHS staff killed patients, The i Paper can reveal.
Martin Costello, who is standing as a council candidate for Nigel Farage’s right wing party in Swindon, has endorsed a string of conspiracy theories on the subject of Covid, including antisemitic claims that the pandemic was “planned” by “the Rothchilds”.
Costello has also regularly shared pro-Russian propaganda in the wake of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, including claims that Russia is aiming to “de-nazify” Ukraine, and describing Volodymyr Zelensky as a “parasite”.
It comes after Farage and fellow senior party members claimed that vetting procedures for candidates had been beefed up. Reform UK is looking into Costello’s posts.
The party is investigating controversial posts linked to several of its other candidates in the upcoming May elections, including David Booth, who is standing in Croydon, south London, and is alleged to have written an article describing Covid as a “staged event”. Another candidate Ricky Hodges, who is standing for election to Hastings Borough Council, is reported to have posted on Facebook calling for London Mayor Sadiq Khan to be “put into a coma”.
Martin Costello pictured at an event last month with Nigel Farage is standing as a council candidate in SwindonAfter a Welsh Senedd candidate stepped down last month over a picture of him appearing to do a Nazi salute, Farage claimed there is more scrutiny on his candidates than “of any other party” and that they are asked to hand over their social media profiles for checks.
However, he added that there are over 5,000 seats up for grabs in the May elections and that “every single party will have difficulties with some of their candidates”. Reform is believed to be aiming to field candidates in just over 95 per cent of seats.
In one post still visible on X, Costello shared a video claiming that NHS staff were using a drug called “midazolam” to kill patients and passing them off as victims of coronavirus.
Costello captioned the post with the message: “While people were clapping the #NHS, they were KILLING people with midazolam! This holocaust must not be swept under the carpet, #justice must be served!”
Claims that midazolam and morphine, drugs used as sedative medications including for palliative care, were used as “lethal injections” during the pandemic have circulated online since 2021 and have been widely debunked by experts.
Costello’s social media also includes anti-vax conspiracies, such as baseless claims that the Covid vaccine caused widespread deaths and miscarriages in pregnant women.
In one post dated 16 December 2022, the Swindon candidate shares a claim from Putin that coronavirus was “part of the biological weapons program [sic] in Ukraine”. Costello adds: “This is why the censorship has become western propaganda.”
The Russia-Ukraine war is another topic upon which the Reform candidate is active on social media, with Costello posting pro-Russia messaging.
In a post from February 2023, he stated on X: “Putin clearly stated a peace deal would happen IMMEDIATELY if Ukraine confirmed it would NOT join NATO.
“Instead it was the West that said NO to keep the war machine running! DISGRACEFUL.”
In another, Costello shares an antisemitic trope in support of both Russia and Iran, stating on X in January 2023: “Russia is one of a small handful of countries that does not have a central bank controlled by the Rothschild dynasty. Another country in that small group is [Iran]. Are you paying attention now?”
As recently as May 2025, another post suggested that Putin “invading Ukraine is the one thing that would guarantee it does not join NATO and I suspect this is the line of thinking Putin is taking, rather than media rhetoric that he has simply ‘gone mad’. Mad with rage, perhaps, but insane? I doubt it”.
Responding to the claims from Costello, Will Stone, Labour MP for Swindon North, said such conspiracy theories did not belong in the mainstream, adding that they are “downright offensive and are quite frankly dangerous”.
“It’s utterly ridiculous that Reform thinks this candidate is fit for public office,” Stone said.
“Nigel Farage has repeatedly boasted about Reform’s vetting procedures, but they are still clearly not fit for purpose.
“Farage must condemn these remarks and remove his support for this candidate without delay. A failure to do so would suggest that he agrees with these mad views.”
Reform UK declined to comment. Costello did not respond to requests for comment.
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