Richard Tice said both he and party leader Nigel Farage believe Mr Putin is the aggressor in the war with Ukraine and he called for security guarantees to ensure Russia will “never, ever try this monstrous activity” again.
Ms Ward asked Mr Tice: “I just wondered if he agreed with the leader of his party, the honourable member for Clacton, who is probably not in Clacton right now, when he said in 2014 that Vladimir Putin was the global leader that he most admired?”.
Mr Tice, speaking in a Commons debate to mark the third anniversary of the war in Ukraine, said: “We at Reform stand united with the whole of this House in support of Ukraine and all brave Ukrainians against the monstrous tyranny of that most evil, evil villain Putin.”.
His condemnation of Russia comes days after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer accused Mr Farage of “fawning” over the Russian president, and SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn appeared to suggest Reform UK MPs are “Putin’s poodles”.
“But a peace deal is only durable, it only works if it endures, and that means you have to have the security guarantees to ensure that the aggressor will never, ever, ever attack again, and those security guarantees are what we must focus on and all be involved in and ensure that it is a strong, robust deterrence.
