Arts chief hits back over claims he 'compared Reform voters to Nazi supporters' as he brands party's popularity 'a warning'

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Misan Harriman described the increasing popularity of Reform as “a warning” ahead of the next general election.

In a video shared on social media, Mr Harriman analysed the recent local election results through a conversation between Holocaust survivor Susan Sontag and writer Kurt Vonnegut about the rise of the Nazis in Germany in the 1930s.

“She said ‘10 per cent of any population is cruel, no matter what, and 10 per cent is merciful, no matter what. And the remaining 80 per cent can be moved in either direction.”

“It’s such a profound way to look at us, and in the context of yesterday’s election results, it’s something that I think is really topical.”

He continued: “The surge of Reform is real, no one should deny it, it is a surge. And it should be a warning and a rallying call at the same time. We have to do the swaying.”

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His comments were met with backlash, including from activist Heidi Bachram, who branded the comments “disgusting”.

Reform MP, Robert Jenrick, also wrote on X: Comparing the millions who voted for Reform on Thursday to the Nazis is disgusting.

Jenrick went on to call for the removal of Mr Harriman from the Southbank Centre, writing: “This crass moron should be nowhere near a taxpayer funded organisation.”

The chair of the Southbank Centre was also met with criticism from Fiona Sharpe, the spokesperson for Labour Against Antisemitism, who called for Mr Harriman to be “removed from his prestigious role at the Southbank Centre”.

“Whatever his political views are, to diminish the systematic state sponsored murder of six million Jews, just for being Jews, in this particular climate in Britain, is abhorrent", Fiona said.

Karen Pollock, the chief executive for the Holocaust Educational Trust, said: “This is shocking. Whatever one's political view, how on earth could yesterday's election results ever be comparable to the Holocaust – the mechanised state-sponsored murder of six million Jews by Nazis and their collaborators?”

Mr Harriman hit back at critics misrepresenting him. He wrote on X: It's wild that I have to do this, but @HeidiBachram clipped 57 seconds of this video to misrepresent me.

He reiterated: “I use a quote from a conversation with Kurt Vonnegut and Susan Sontag, in which she discusses human behaviour after studying the Holocaust. In that context, I talk about human behaviour and how we can build community in the lead-up to the next general election.

"In this video, I actually say that reform voters are not devils. Yet due to NOT watching the full video, @RobertJenrick is saying I am comparing reform voters to nazis."

Signing off, he added: “Truth matters, folks, even on X.”