Yet another scandal has hit Reform. Earlier this week, ITV published the first findings of a year-long undercover investigation, in which several of the party’s councillors were caught on film expressing extreme, racist and misogynistic views. One of those featured, for instance, was Alan Feeney, a Reform councillor in Solihull who called Asian families “absolute parasites” and declared: “I’d be saying no more than 1% of British population can be non-white.” Feeney has now stood down from the party for “personal reasons”.
These revelations are shocking, but unfortunately not surprising. HOPE not hate has exposed numerous Reform councillors for holding bigoted and outlandish views, as well as calling for political violence. Here are just ten of the worst:
Back in May, when he was standing for Reform in Sunderland, we revealed that Glenn 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!!” Gibbins was nevertheless elected that month and a few days later suspended by Reform, but by June the party had let him back in. The following month, however, Gibbins was charged with posting a grossly offensive message on social media – following which Reform have had to suspend him again.
Ben Rowe – a Reform councillor in Plymouth – has made racist comments online, including accusing Jews of “forcing other races on our societies” and “flooding the west with Islamists”. Like Gibbins, he was suspended by Reform but subsequently let back into the party.
Last May, Steve Biggs was elected for Reform in Durham. As well as having described Vladimir Putin as someone he admires, Biggs once wrote on social media: “Islam has no place on this earth. One big nuke bomb needed!” He remains in Reform.
Ian Cooper became Reform leader of Staffordshire County Council last May, after the party won a majority on the council. By December, however, he had been expelled from the party, after we revealed his history of racist and bigoted posts on social media, including calling Sadiq Khan a “narcissistic Pakistani” and responding to a video showing the lawyer and academic Shola Mos-Shogbamimu by commenting: “Dr Shaga Bing-Bong…. Time she F’d off back to Nigeria.”
Another Staffordshire councillor, Lynn Dean, was suspended by Reform after we reported on her online activity. As well as telling Ian Cooper he would be “sorely missed”, Dean posted in April 2023: “Blacks have more than made up for what happened to other blacks in the past, with their violence and law breaking.”
David FitzGerald was elected under Reform’s banner to Northumberland County Council in May 2025. His Facebook account exhibited a slew of anti-Muslim content, including posts declaring “everything Islam touches dies” and that the religion has been “turning every single country it touches into a shithole for over 1400 years”. Reform hasn’t taken any action against him.
Last October, John Allen, another councillor in Northumberland, was kicked out of Reform after we revealed he had said, “I can’t wait to see Srarmer [sic] swinging from a lamp post,” and commented: “I’d shoot Starmer myself if I had the weapon and opportunity.”
David Rowan, a councillor in Kirklees, was suspended by Reform in August. We revealed that he had made a homophobic comment on social media and said, “Hang the Dwarf,” in response to a post about former House of Commons Speaker John Bercow.
Reform has let Adrian White – a councillor in Wigan – remain in the party, despite having called for two prominent Conservative politicians to be shot. In April 2018, he said of Michael Heseltine: “Shoot him and his fellow parasites.” In a comparably violent post on 22 May 2019, when May was rejecting calls to resign as prime minister, he wrote on Facebook: “Champagne back on ice….can’t we just shoot her …please.”
Caley Ashman, who sits on Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council, is still in Reform despite the fact he 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”.
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…
