Just days after the local elections, Reform UK finds itself in chaos.
The party has already had to expel Stuart Prior, who was elected under its banner to both Rochford District and Essex County Council last week. In a joint investigation with The Mirror, HOPE not hate revealed that Prior is a white supremacist who has made vile comments about Muslims and black people.
Meanwhile, Jay Cooper, who described the Holocaust as “a hoax” and was elected to Sefton Council, has resigned the party whip.
Here are twelve others – who, between them, have called for Nigerians to be melted to fill potholes, said they want Muslims to be blasted off the face of the earth, and described the Nazis as “real visionaries” – Reform should have already expelled:
Courtesy of Reform, Glenn Gibbins has been elected for the Hylton Castle ward in Sunderland.
On 1 May, HOPE not hate revealed that, as well as having made degrading comments about women, Gibbins wrote on Facebook in March 2024: “Carnt believe amount of nigerians in town… should melt them all down and fill in the pot holes!!”
Despite this, Reform still hasn’t even suspended him. While Darren Grimes, deputy leader of Durham County Council, had said Gibbins was suspended, a Reform UK spokesperson explained this wasn’t correct, detailing that “no decision” has been made. Why not?
Ben Rowe has been elected for Reform in Plymouth. In response to a video of a riot outside a mosque in Southport in 2024, he urged rioters to “get rid of that filthy building”. In an antisemitic comment, he also suggested that “the Jews [are] creating division by forcing other races on our societies”.
After we uncovered Rowe’s shocking views, Reform said it was investigating the matter and yesterday it was revealed he has been suspended. He should now be expelled.
Nathaniel Menday, who calls himself an “ethno-nationalist,” has been elected to Sheffield City Council for the Woodhouse ward. He was exposed by The Times for making an antisemitic comment and describing the Nazis as “real visionaries”.
In 2023, he suggested “Jewish people in the West” are responsible for the antisemitism they suffer as they “overwhelmingly favour open borders”. In 2024, he shared a picture of Berlin’s Olympiastadion, built by Nazi Germany for the 1936 Olympics, and said: “Whichever group of people built this must have been real visionaries!”
Caley Ashman has been elected to Dudley Council, after winning for Reform in the Cradley North & Wollescote ward.
He has used the phrase “goyslop” on social media, a term used to promote the theory that Jewish people use mass media to distract non-Jews.
Ashman also enquired about joining the neo-Nazi Homeland Party and shared a homophobic post about Douglas Murray that referred to him as a “snaggled toothed porridge eating semen sipper”.
David Laing has been elected as a Reform councillor in Sunderland.
In a joint investigation with The Mirror, HOPE not hate has been probing a claim that Laing twice stood for the fascist British National Party. When he was confronted by The Mirror, Laing suggested a friend had got him to stand for the BNP. Then he appeared to change his story, claiming that, in fact, he couldn’t remember whether he had stood for the party.
Farage has previously described it as a “golden rule” that former BNP activists can’t join his party.
Daniel Devaney topped the poll for Reform in Clayton & Fairweather Green and has thus been elected to Bradford Council.
Together with The Mirror, we revealed Devaney wanted to “blast [Muslims] all of the face of the earth [sic]”. In September 2024, he also described Muslims as “pure scum”, adding: “We’re being invaded by potential terrorists day in day out.”
Devaney said he had withdrawn prior to polling day, but was nevertheless on the ballot for Reform and won. Reform should expel him from the party.
Another newly elected Reform councillor is Derek Bullock, who will now sit on Bolton Council after receiving the most votes in the Hulton ward.
Reform was happy to select Bullock, despite the fact he had been expelled from the Conservatives for alleged racism. In 2023, images emerged of a post he had sent in 2017, at the time of the Manchester Arena terrorist attack, which said: “Shoot the P*kis on the spot.” Following the revelations, Bullock, who claimed the post was fake, was disowned by the Tories.
Bullock has also repeatedly referred to Muslims as “Moslems”, an archaic spelling often used by Islamophobes. He has accused the Labour Party of using “the Moslems” to replace white working class voters.
Reform also selected Jeff Bray to run for the party in the local elections, despite the fact he had previously been exposed for anti-Muslim social media posts. Last week, he was elected to Essex County Council in the Tendring Rural East ward.
Back in 2017, when Bray was a potential UKIP parliamentary candidate, we reported he had said “muslims burning poppies… should be shot”.
At the time, UKIP dropped Bray as a potential candidate. Given Reform knew this, why did they allow him to stand in the first place?
Andrew Mahon won the Blackburn South East ward for Reform last week. Last month, we revealed with The Mirror that in 2024 he said Oswald Mosley, who founded and led the British Union of Fascists from 1932 to 1940, “was right 100%”.
Mosley’s BUF was a virulently antisemitic movement and in 1936 Adolf Hitler was a guest of honour at his second wedding, held in secret in Nazi Germany. Mosley was imprisoned in 1940, following the outbreak of the Second World War, after which he became a leading voice in Holocaust denial.
Mahon additionally shared Islamophobic content on Facebook and The Independent reported that he appears to have made homophobic remarks about health secretary Wes Streeting and Green Party leader Zack Polanski. He also asked why white people can’t use the n-word.
Krupa Jeevan Kollabathula was elected for Reform in Laindon Town and will now sit on Essex County Council.
Writing on X/Twitter in 2016, he used an antisemitic trope, referring to “Jews(selfish)”. The post Kollabathula was responding to has since been deleted, making the meaning of his comment, in which he said “the Germans are proud of his relentlessness”, unclear.
Additionally, he voiced conspiracy theories regarding the 9/11 terrorist attack, writing that “fake 9/11 to get into Afghanistan and continue staying in Iraq was GBush plan” and saying: “Do not be mesmerised by dates even calling it 9/11 was planned.”
Last week, Axel Tye was elected to Sunderland City Council.
As well as having peddled Covid-19 conspiracy theories, Tye shared an image of the antisemitic “Freedom for Humanity” mural. In 2018, Nigel Farage criticised Jeremy Corbyn for failing to see the antisemitic tropes in the mural, explaining that the image is “blatantly anti-Jewish”.
Francesca O’Brien is one of Reform’s new members of the Welsh Senedd.
Reform put O’Brien up for election, despite the fact that, back in 2019, The Guardian revealed she had suggested people on the Channel 4 show Benefits Street “need putting down”. It should now do the right thing and remove her from the party.
Expelling these twelve newly elected Reform politicians would be a good start, but they’re not the party’s only newly elected councillors with concerning views.
Other new Reform councillors include, for instance, Karl Catchpole (in Norfolk), a fan of Tommy Robinson and Enoch Powell; Brett Muscroft (in Wakefield), who has posted Islamophobic, pro-Tommy Robinson, and pro-Enoch Powell content; Janine Crook (in Blackburn), who described Enoch Powell as “prophetic” and welcomed Sam Melia – a leading member of the fascist Patriotic Alternative, who spent two years behind bars after being found guilty of race hate offences – back to X; Zoe Hockton (in Essex), who shared Islamophobic posts on X such as one suggesting people who don’t eat bacon aren’t “true Brits”; and Jamie Pullin (in Rugby), who shared a video about white supremacy and wrote: “Well, she has a point.”
None of these people are suitable to hold elected office. Thanks to Reform they do.
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