Reform UK’s parliamentary candidate in the same constituency as Kemi Badenoch has resigned from the party after it emerged he previously urged people to vote for the BNP.

Grant StClair-Armstrong, who is standing in North West Essex, also used a blog to post jokes using racial slurs and made a joke about “female hormones”, according to the Times.

He told BBC News he had “never supported the BNP” and “bitterly” regretted the comments.

Mr StClair-Armstrong will still appear on the ballot paper as the Reform UK candidate because the deadline for nominations has passed. But if he is elected he would stand as an independent.

The Times reported that, in 2010, the candidate had written: “I could weep now, every time I pick up a British newspaper and read the latest about the state of the UK. No doubt, Enoch Powell would be doing the same if he was alive. My solution … vote BNP!”

Mr StClair-Armstrong told BBC News he posted the comment some time between 2004 and 2007 and he was an “angry man” at the time.

“I have never supported the BNP. I think they are a disgusting organisation,” he said.

Asked whether he had chosen to resign, he said the party had forced him to.

“To be honest, I wouldn’t have stepped down. I would have let the people decide,” he said.

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The Times reported that, in 2010, the candidate had written: “I could weep now, every time I pick up a British newspaper and read the latest about the state of the UK. No doubt, Enoch Powell would be doing the same if he was alive. My solution … vote BNP!”