When it comes to candidate selection, it’s safe to say that Reform UK has had a shocker. Barely a week passes without at least one of its councillors being suspended, resigning under a cloud or even being criminally charged.
But we might still assume they’d choose the cream of the crop when it comes to major leadership positions like, say, heading up Staffordshire County Council?
Alas, no.
After the ReformExposed X/Twitter account revealed yesterday that Cllr Ian Cooper was listed as a “Top Fan” of the explicitly racist Facebook page titled “The European Race”, we decided to take a look at Cooper’s other social media accounts and see if this worrying signal was borne out elsewhere.
“Dr Shaga Bing-Bong…Time She F’d off back to Nigeria”
We quickly identified two further social media accounts belonging to Cllr Cooper, one on YouTube and one on X/Twitter. Both carry his real name, and made no real effort to disguise their origin.
The picture painted by Cooper’s social media posts is of a man who is deeply bigoted and tapped into far-right media and terminology. In response to a video clip showing the lawyer and academic Shola Mos-Shogbamimu, Cooper replied with a crude mangling of her surname and suggestions that she should “F[uck] off back to Nigeria.”
Cooper’s animosity to immigration appears to stem from a belief in hateful conspiracy theories. In another post from late last year, Cooper wrote “those who have arrived from the ‘Global Majority South’ are intent on colonising the UK, destroying all that has gone before”.
Cooper’s output is no less offensive on the more public forum of X/Twitter. In response to a benign post from the presenter Sangita Myska back in April, Cooper furiously denied that Myska – who grew up in the UK – could be English and insisted that her British citizenship was merely a “piece of paper”.
In posts from February, Cooper referred to Mayor of London Sadiq Khan as a “narcissistic Pakistani” and suggested that the British MP David Lammy should not be allowed to sit in the House of Commons, despite both men being born in London:
This is not the first embarrassment to stem from Reform’s Staffordshire contingent. In January, the Staffordshire County Organiser, David Hyden-Milakovic, resigned after HOPE not hate exposed his links to the neo-Nazi Patriotic Alternative group.
And just a fortnight ago, another Staffordshire councillor apologised for posts referring to “fat-arsed black women” and calling police “indoctrinated British hating scum”.
In a recent interview with the Local Government Chronicle, Cooper declared that he wanted to carry out his role with “competence and professionalism” and “keep under the radar”.
So will Reform UK decide to stick with a council leader who thinks telling people to “F[uck] off back to Nigeria” is an acceptable way to behave? Or add him to the ever-growing list of racists and no-hopers that they’ve been forced to bin off already?
Prefer to listen? Click the play button to hear the audio version. Harry Shukman Reform UK is staffed by oddballs and enigmas, but none odder…
