Paul Bean joins Advance UK after explusion from Durham Reform

Paul Bean, who represents the Crook ward, is the county’s first councillor to join Advance UK. 

Reform expelled Cllr Bean, who was elected in May 2025, in September amid criticism of alleged social media posts criticising the party. 

Cllr Bean said he was “thrown under the bus” by Reform UK after the HOPE not hate website exposed the comments. 

The former Home Office employee was also suspended from his day job for allegedly criticising asylum seekers in other online posts. He has since left the role. 

Speaking after joining Advance UK, the party’s new member said: “As with joining the military, I entered politics to serve my community and country, not to be thrown under a bus by my own siding with the far left’s HOPE not Hate.

“I learned a hard truth about Reform’s leadership: it will sacrifice its people curry favour with leftist extremists.”

Online posts, allegedly written by an account owned by Cllr Bean, discussed leaving Reform UK and joining Advance UK, a party set up by former Reform deputy chairman Ben Habib. 

“Vote Reform and you get clueless nobodies,” one post read. Another added: “Reform are amateur and inexperienced. This country’s f*****.”

Durham County Council is under the majority control of Reform with 62 seats. There are 15 Liberal Democrats, 12 Independents, four Labour, two Greens, one Conservative, and one Advance member. A by-election is due to be held for a current council vacancy later this year. 

Writing under the username @dylanandmolly3739, Cllr Bean was also criticised after allegedly posting: “97 per cent of asylum seekers are lying about persecution in their home countries and the other three per cent have been credible to the point of being believable. Source: me. Guess what job I do?”

Another post read: “I work as an Asylum Decision Maker for the [Home Office] and I can tell you with authority that 93 per cent of asylum seekers to the UK are men between 18-35 and 92 per cent of them are refused asylum.

“The truth is the vast majority of asylum seekers are actually economic migrants abusing the asylum system.”

The civil service code states that employees must not “allow your personal political views to determine any advice you give or your actions”.

Cllr Bean denies the allegations against him. 

Advance UK said Cllr Bean’s decision to join the party came after a period of “profound personal and political reflection, shaped by both national events and his own lived experience of modern politics”.

The veteran added: “I served this country in uniform for 31 years. I believe in free speech, national sovereignty, protecting children from ideological harm, and a government that answers to its people. After reading Advance UK’s mission and speaking directly with Ben Habib, I encountered something I had not seen elsewhere — empathy, integrity, and leadership rooted in principle.”

Reform UK has been contacted for comment.