Far-right grifter Ben Woods has been suspended from his job as a ‘wine specialist’ in a London branch of Waitrose.
‘Reform Party UK Exposed’ takes up the story:
January 2025:
‘Meet @Benonwine
You may have seen his posts about Reform UK, Tommy Robinson, immigration, Enoch Powell, Islam, Muslims, BHM, the list goes on. He’s a (self proclaimed) far-right ‘social media influencer’ that constantly posts divisive questions for engagement and to stir. Ever wondered why he’s got that Twitter handle? It’s because Ben Woods is a wine expert at the Henley branch of @Waitrose. We know this because he used to post about wine on his account, back in the day. Seems he’s deleted most of it, but we kept some receipts, and there are a couple of wine suggestions still on there in the archive. You can even see him across Waitrose Henley’s social, because he admins that too: https://instagram.com/reel/DBWqxM3okly… @waitrose_henley on IG. Wonder how Waitrose feels about their Henley wine expert also being a significant far-right social media influencer in the UK? He sure posts a lot; I wonder if that is on lunch breaks or on company time….’
March 2025:
‘Here we go. @benonwine is doing a crowdfunder because he can’t understand why his employer, Waitrose, where he’s a wine specialist, is posting on his Twitter account, BEN ON WINE, about Reform UK, Tommy Robinson, immigration, Enoch Powell, Islam, Muslims, BHM has sacked him. He’s a self-proclaimed far-right influencer. Maybe that’s why they’ve had enough of you posting on an account associated with Waitrose, which originally started as an account on Wine in Waitrose (and don’t forget he operated their official channels too). It’s nothing to do with freedom of speech. It’s about responsibility as an employee to not impose your far-right values on their brand.’
Whatever sympathy ‘Ben’ thought he might get on Musk’s X appears to have evaporated along with his job.
I think you’ll find that @waitrose do not wish to be associated with a racist piece of shit like you @benonwine. pic.twitter.com/LthyKT1nYf
— t/a Underscores Rn’t Us (@AndyPlumb4) March 13, 2025
I don’t think this will encourage Waitrose to change their minds tbh. pic.twitter.com/wpTXIlZqaw
— Ferret (@Ferretgrove) March 13, 2025
Poor Ben suspended by Waitrose.
— John O'Connell (@jdpoc) March 13, 2025
Don’t feel too sorry for him. He wasn’t “suspended for his beliefs“, he was suspended because of his homophobia, Islamophobia, threats of violence and incitement of murder of minorities.
Which, of course, he refers to as “Free Speech“.
. pic.twitter.com/QVc3csLsfc
🚨The funniest thing you'll see on Twitter for weeks, @benonwine thinks Elmo the Nazi will make Waitrose give him his job back. 🤣🤣🤣🤣 pic.twitter.com/KGOw13YApm
— KGB_News (@GBNews23653867) March 13, 2025
"i will not go silently into the night…." So fucking funny to talk like this about getting suspended by waitrose.
— KPMG dad (@jenuflexion) March 13, 2025
These guys fully believe that posting about muslims 24/7 every day, for years, is real activism. pic.twitter.com/Z15aO2jAt2
Elon Help ! Waitrose won’t let me a bigoted cunt.
— Patrick Clarke (@PatrickPClarke) March 13, 2025
Pathetic little dweeb. https://t.co/BUu6mj4cqo
Are you a Right Wing trumpet? Racist? Transphobic? Very gullible? Then send @benonwine your cash. Ben has been fired from his job on a Waitrose wine counter simply for being offensive. He’s also received the obligatory death threats from kind woke people who are empathetic and… pic.twitter.com/9bt8NAFnQY
— India Willoughby (@IndiaWilloughby) March 13, 2025
Some of your posts clearly bring Waitrose into disrepute. You have a responsibility as an employee not to do that. Did you honestly think you could encourage hate filled pile ons and it would be fine by them? This as an example: pic.twitter.com/H6MIhYF1r8
— Cal (@Cal_Somerset1) March 13, 2025
On his Crowdfunder page, Ben states:
‘In January 2025, certain leftist activist groups made a coordinated attack on my X account, doxing me. I received death threats and had people searching for me in the Waitrose Henley-On-Thames store no doubt wanting to beat me up for daring to stand up to far left lunacy which we see all over our country (and around the world) at the moment.’
However,
On his crowdfunder, he's stating we doxxed him. This is a lie – he has photos of himself on @benonwine (one with Phillip Schofield for example in Waitrose uniform), he included details of the store he works in:https://t.co/PzlSOT0Zlc
— Reform Party UK Exposed 🇬🇧 (@reformexposed) March 13, 2025
It's still on there.
If you think he's a… pic.twitter.com/NB4gEF6ZWA
Hi, I'm Ben, the wine specialist from Henley Waitrose branch. Here's a photo of me working in branch, in my Waitrose uniform. And here are my controversial rightwing political takes which violate my employer's social media policy.
— Natasha Crow (@Socialist_Crow) March 13, 2025
Oh my god, I'm being fired!
Bizarrely, Waitrose took umbrage at @benonwine mixing pictures of him working for them with his vomiting of hate speech.
— Paul Grimshaw (@PaulGrimshaw15) March 13, 2025
They’ve suspended him and will no doubt sack him in due course. https://t.co/fGD1IyWAw7
Ben overstepped the mark with tweets like this from behind an anonymous account. Online hate campaigns against a rival supermarket?? Definitely not a good career move.
— EddieG (@BhoyBass) March 13, 2025
He fucked around, now he's finding out.🤣🤣 pic.twitter.com/SEdMy3yz2P
And on it goes. Another pro-free-speech merchant who hates it when their free speech is actually found to be hate speech and incitement.
Ben is one of many, but thankfully he will face the wrath of Waitrose and not contaminate their store anymore. It’s just a shame that the rest of society will be spewed over.
