Farage can't distance himself so easily from anti-vax conspiracy theorists

Farage's involvement with Malhotra goes back several years, and others with the same views also participated in the conference

Nigel Farage and Reform are under pressure to explain their decision to have the antivax conspiracy theorist Aseem Malhotra as a speaker at their conference, with the backlash coming from the Right as well as the Left. Reform have tried to distance themselves from Malhotra, claiming they don’t endorse his comments despite having said he was advising them on health policy.

Malhotra's speech was at 3pm, by 9pm on the same day the clips of his speech where he claimed that it was “highly likely the covid vaccines have been a significant factor in the cancer of members of the Royal family”, had been taken down from Reform’s X account. Without a hint of irony Malhotra continued his speech saying “nobody is immune to medical misinformation because of this corrupted system.”

It would appear Reform are embarrassed by Malhotra becoming one of the main stories from their conference, however attempts to distance themselves from Malhotra will be difficult considering the Byline Times has previously reported on Farage's involvement with Malhotra going back several years. There is also the issue for Farage that Malhotra was just one of many individuals at the Reform conference with a history of promoting conspiracy theories.

Malhotra appeared twice at the Reform conference, also attending the fringe held by the Together Declaration where he said “those people who stood their ground despite all the coercion to not get vaccinated will turn out to be heroes and on the right side of history”. He also said that Bill Gates’ donations to the WHO meant “we cannot trust their advice”. Malhotra appeared alongside David Roach, a director of Action on World Health, that has Farage as its leading public figure and Malhotra as its Chief Medical Advisor.

The Together Declaration was formed in August 2021 to “push back against the rapidly growing infringements to our rights and freedoms” with a focus on opposing covid mandates, and children being offered the covid vaccine. As previously reported by the Byline Times, Together has branched out into a range of topics leaning towards conspiracy such as 15 minute cities, digital currency and digital ID leading to a social credit system, the organisation has been involved in protests from ULEZ and farming, to anti-migrant protests such as in Epping where cofounder Adam Brooks has been a regular fixture.

Together's directors include Alan Miller who was also a partner of former Brexit Party candidate Clare Fox’s Battle of Ideas, Steve James the doctor who was filmed questioning Sajid Javid about vaccine deaths, and Francis Hoar, the lawyer who represented Keep Britain Free’s legal challenge against the first lockdown.

Hoar has been a member of the disinformation group Pandata whose founder Nick Hudson now claims there was no pandemic. Hoar was also a signatory of a letter addressed to MI5, the US Justice Department and the intelligence agencies of Australia, Canada and Germany that lockdowns were a fraudulent conspiracy of the Chinese Communist Party. Other signatories included Stacey Rudin and Clare Craig who have also been members of Pandata. Craig of anti-vax HART group worked with Malhotra on the antivax paper he published via his own journal.

Hoar is also a director of British Friends of Israel which was incorporated in November 2023, I only note this organisation because the other directors include Allison Pearson and Toby Young.

Brooks, Miller, Fox and Hoar were all involved in the Together fringe as were an array of individuals immersed in conspiracy culture.

Alan Miller has shared a clip on X posted by June Slater of Farage making a short appearance at the fringe, praising their campaigning work particularly in regards to inheritance tax and farming; Jeremy Clarkson and other public figures have been photographed at farming protests holding Together placards.

Farage went on to describe lockdowns as “the worst decision by a peace time government probably in British history”, continuing “We were lied to by the last government, they said take a jab you can’t pass the virus on, it wasn’t true, and they wanted vaccine passports, we won’t have Digital ID”.

Other contributors to the Together fringe included:

Bev Turner, one of GB News’ most conspiratorial presenters, jumped to Malhotra's defence on X, claiming the “mrna delivery system…switches off the t-cell immune response required to kill cancer cells.” Turner then shared a link to the YouTube account of John Campbell.

Turner has previously claimed that the “Covid-19 virus has been bioengineered to be less dangerous to some Jewish people.”

Montgomery Toms, Together's youth ambassador has posted videos of himself inside a Boots store with a loud hailer demanding staff stop administering covid vaccines because they are “one of the greatest crimes humanity has ever witnessed.” He has also posed by the covid bereaved memorial wall to claim “vaccines have killed more than covid”.

Justin Rodgers, who runs Farmers To Action, has posted on X that climate change isn't real but is the result of the weather being controlled by “bioengineering”. His session at the fringe was titled “Trailers of Truth, Farmers Backing Britain”, which was about organising a Reform backed protest that will travel through various towns and cities before arriving outside the upcoming Labour conference later this month.

June Slater who was at the No To Digital ID session has claimed on X that only 17,000 people died from covid and has accused Matt Hancock of being responsible for euthanasing thousands of people for simply having “cold symptoms”. Slater has been posting her support for Malhotra's appearance at the conference.

Citing falling vaccination rates in children, Health Secretary Wes Streeting accused Farage of being “shockingly irresponsible” for giving a platform “to these poisonous lies”, continuing “He should apologise and sever all ties with this dangerous extremism.”

Malhotra responded on X by asking Streeting to watch an interview Malhotra recently did with Times Radio saying “Don’t scapegoat those exposing the cause as the cause. That’s what psychopathic corporations do.”

Reform were asked why they took down the footage of Malhotra from their X account, if Farage was aware of Malhotra's views before he was asked to speak at the conference, and did they support RFK Jr's approach to vaccines.

Reform didn't respond.

Farage's prior involvement with Malhotra

In May 2024, Farage was himself accused by the World Health Organisation (WHO) of “spreading misinformation” after becoming the face of Action on World Health (AWH), a campaign for the UK to end its membership of the World Health Organisation (WHO).

AWH has received favourable coverage in right-wing newspapers, repeating the narratives of groups associated with coordinated COVID disinformation that has seeped into the mainstream media via outlets like the Telegraph, GB News and TalkTV.

On 27 September 2022, Malhotra published a paper with Clare Craig of the anti-vax HART group in his own journal calling for the immediate halt to COVID vaccinations.

The paper was released via a press conference by the World Council for Health (WCH), founded by Tess Lawrie of disinformation groups HART and Pandata as an umbrella organisation for groups promoting a range of alternative treatments from ivermectin to protection from 5G. WCH’s coalition partners includes Children’s Health Defence that was founded by RFK Jr.

Lawrie also founded the British Ivermectin Research Group (BIRD). BIRD is the sister organisation to Pierre Kory’s Frontline Covid Critical Care (FLCCC) organisation in the US, together they led the way in promoting ivermectin as an alternative treatment for COVID, long COVID, and “spike detox”. They also promote the false claim that COVID vaccines cause “turbo cancers”.

At the launch, Malhotra claimed there was a “willful blindness” to vaccine injuries, likening the situation to Germans ignoring Nazi atrocities. Other speakers included Lawrie and Ryan Cole of FLCCC, who is also linked to America’s Frontline Doctors.

Former Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen’s descent into anti-vax conspiracy theories coincided with his own association with Malhotra.

Shortly after losing the Conservative whip for likening COVID vaccines to the Holocaust, Bridgen and John Mappin, a supporter of QAnon and founder of the far-right student group Turning Point UK, hosted a conspiracy theorist’s dinner party at the exclusive Carlton Club on 13 February 2024 with Malhotra as a speaker.

The other speakers were Cole and Dr Robert Malone, one of RFK Jr’s controversial picks for a vital vaccine committee that has received criticism from across the scientific community.

Attendees included Farage, Toby Young, and according to Mappin representatives of the mainstream media; GB News presenters and guests were well represented.

On X, Mappin described part of the event: “We also heard about the military grade psyop and hypnosis methods originally designed for Al Qaeda and how these methods have been turned on civilian populations.

Together Declaration and ULEZ

From an article for the Byline Times

The heavily-publicised anti-ULEZ protests that took place outside Downing Street on 29 August were organised by a group called Action Against UEZ Extension (AAUE). Leaflets for their protest read “Stand against the Great betrayal, the fight goes on 12 noon onwards” while their placards carried messages including: “RIP London, blood on your hands Khan” and “Stop the toxic air lie”. Our investigation reveals ties between this group and the anti-lockdown Together Declaration and the anti-vax HART group. In recent months these groups, and other linked organisations, have gradually transitioned to opposing Net Zero and measures to reduce air pollution.

AAUE’s fellow campaigning organisation is the Stop ULEZ Coalition (SUC). SUC’s website also consists of a single page with a declaration, a mailing list sign up and a list of 70 members of the coalition. A considerable number of these names either hold positions in the Together Declaration or have campaigned alongside them on issues relating to COVID, such as GB News regulars James Melville and Tonia Buxton.

While Together give the appearance of merely supporting the protests by sending out four emails in the week leading up to the ULEZ expansion to their supporters with a call to action to take part or support the Downing Street protest, it appears they may be taking more of a leading role in actually organising the protests, as pictures of previous AAUE events have Together’s banner covering the centre of the stage with AAUE’s own banners to the side. Several names on the SUC list have omitted their positions with Together despite being directors of the organisation.

Other names on the SUC list include Ed Gregory, who is seeking judicial review of ULEZ, and is represented by Robin Tilbrook’s law firm. Tilbrook is chair of the far-right English Democrats party and is involved in the Workers of England Union (WEU) that been promoted by the likes of Toby Young and Clare Fox.

Other figures on the list include the former Conservative London Mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey, Lawrence Fox, GB News presenter and leader of the “anti-woke” Reclaim Party, Howard Cox, Fair Fuel and the Reform candidate for London Mayor, Teck Khong, who is leader of the ADF Party an appeared at an anti-vax rally in August alongside former Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen and Mohammad Iqbal Adil, who is founder of the anti-vax group World Doctors Alliance who had his right to practise as a doctor suspended by the General Medical Council due to spreading COVID disinformation.

Further Reading

https://bylinetimes.com/2025/09/05/reform-conference-aseem-malhotra/

https://bylinetimes.com/2023/09/04/the-links-between-the-ulez-protests-radical-anti-vaxxers-and-the-far-right/