Purley resident David Booth is one of two Reform Ltd candidates standing in Kenley ward on May 7.
Pensioner Booth, 80, describes himself as having “a long career in research and teaching”.
Tin-foil hat: Reform Ltd candidate David Booth says covid was a global elites conspiracy
But in September last year, Booth wrote in something called The Journal of 9/11 Studies where he referred to the covid pandemic as a “staged event” that was designed by “powerful forces” to control the population.
Booth is a conspiracy theorist and anti-vaxer, the kind of person who when they were members of one of Reform leader Nigel Farage’s previous parties, UKIP, they were described by former Prime Minister David Cameron as “fruitcakes” and “loonies”.
Kenley candidate Booth gives “fruitcakes” a bad rap. And “loonies”.
It is not known whether Booth spends his time wearing a tin-foil hat to protect himself from Martian space rays, but he may well have been doing so when he tapped out this little zinger for his conspiracy theory magazine article: “It is increasingly clear that the so-called covid-19 pandemic was a staged event, designed to enable profound changes desired by powerful forces at the expense of majority populations around the world.”
“So-called”: according to official figures for the UK, by 2024 there had been almost 25million cases of covid-19 in this country. Some 232,112 Britons died as a result of contracting the virus.
Booth claimed that the harm from covid was caused by policies, including vaccinations, “not by any observable impacts of the virus”.
According to a report today by the widely respected Byline Times, Booth’s article was titled Covid-19 as a Structural Deep Event: Cutting to the Chase on Perpetrators and Motives. Byline Times suggests that Booth’s sources are all a touch on the flaky side. Booth’s article, they report, “overwhelmingly cites blog posts, self-published books and fringe advocacy websites… There are 55 citations for Substack posts in the piece, from non-peer reviewed sources”.
Not one of the snappiest campaign lines you’ll ever see: David Booth’s candidate profile is a tad on the nihilist side
Booth did not respond when contacted for comment by Byline Times. He probably thinks it’s a conspiracy…
Byline Times reports: “In the piece, Booth accuses what he calls the ‘Global Biodefense Public-Private Partnership’ (GPPP), essentially Western military, intelligence and biosecurity establishments, of staging the pandemic, even suggesting it was fabricated through staged imagery, statistical fraud or possibly deliberate ‘seeding’ of pathogens by military actors.”
Booth must make for fascinating conversations when he gets together with his Croydon Reform mates in the ‘Spoons in Purley…
In an online election profile, Booth says, “I spend much of my leisure time in Kenley. The common, and the airfield and its traditions, are close to my heart.” There’s no mention of his controversial views on covid or vaccinations.
But his social media accounts double down on his anti-vax and pro-Reform Ltd views, including claims that covid vaccines are responsible for increased cancer rates.
The covid-19 inquiry’s report on vaccines is soon to be published, and is expected to be scathing about the role of misinformation on vaccine uptake.
A spokesperson for Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group is quoted by Byline Times as saying that Booth’s report was “absolutely shocking”.
“They are dangerous, they put lives at risk, and they have no place in public life.
“Reform should immediately remove Mr Booth as a candidate and make clear, without any ambiguity, that it rejects these views.
“Anyone who promotes dangerous falsehoods about a pandemic that took so many lives should be nowhere near elected office.”
Reform Ltd has failed to respond to Byline Times’s questions about their carefully vetted Kenley candidate. Just like they refused to respond to Inside Croydon when their own members contacted us, outraged about their selection of a dead Yorkshirewoman as the mayoral candidate.
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Read more: Reform’s candidate for Mayor bottles it ahead of Farage visit
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