Politics
Reform haemorrhage councillors to Restore
As fast as Reform are gaining washed-up Tory MPs, it looks like they’re losing councillors to the even-further-right. Yesterday, 19 February, two more ex-Reform councillors defected (kind of) to Restore UK. And, even as I wrote that sentence today, yet another followed suit.
They join party (kind of) leader Rupert Lowe, a fellow former-Reformer so bigoted that not even the immigrant-bashing party wanted him. The three defectors also follow hot on the heels of the nine Reform councillors who flipped to Restore earlier this same week.
Reform leaking councillors to Restore
Yesterday’s pair of far-right turncoats are Scott Cameron and Luke Cooper, both of Warwickshire County Council.
Before they even managed to announced their departure, Cameron and Cooper were dismissed from Reform by George Finch, the council leader . Finch claimed to have knowledge of their plan to defect to Restore ahead of their move, stating that:
In these circumstances, it is not appropriate for them to continue to represent Reform UK or sit within our group.
Reform UK in Warwickshire is here to deliver for residents — not to indulge in stunts designed to create headlines at the expense of local colleagues. I will not allow the hard work of our councillors and volunteers to be undermined.
In spite of their ignominious ousting, the two claimed to be “delighted” to join Restore Britain. They also released a joint statement griping that Reform had turned “centrist” (Jesus fucking Christ) and “moved ideologies to win the popularity vote”. What, nobody told them that’s Farage’s only tactic ahead of time?
The statement also claimed that:
Whilst we may now wear a different rosette, we will continue working hard for all of our residents, championing Warwickshire and Britain alike.
The two defections come shortly after fellow Reform Warwickshire councillor Edward Harris resigned the whip in January. Harris was found to be running two illegal and unsafe rental properties. (And here’s us thinking that being a slumlord was usually grounds for commendation in Reform!)
Because of these three er.. ‘losses’, no one party now has control over Warwichshire council. Reform now have 19 seats, whilst the Lib Dems have 14 in second place. The remaining seats are shared between the Tories (9), Greens (6) and Labour (3).
Presumably, Reform will now have to rely on Conservative support in order to push through any decisions they make.
Charles Whitford
Likewise on 19 February, Leicestershire County councillor Charles Whitford also announced his defection from Reform UK to Restore Britain.
Addressing the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), a Reform UK spokesperson said that Whitford:
betrayed his electors and the mandate he was given in order to become affiliated with a movement that is not even registered with the Electoral Commission.
Restore Britain doesn’t currently have status as a recognised political party. However, if Reform are going to cry foul at defectors, we have bad news for them regarding half of their fucking MPs.
For his part, Whitford told the LDRS he switched parties due to “clashes” with Dan Harrison, the Reform council leader. Harrison stood Whitford down from his cabinet position as member for highways, transport and waste back in November.
The BBC reported that Whitford was suspended due to complaints over his Islamophobic flag-shagging (to paraphrase a little). Whitford reportedly claimed that people were erecting flags in his area to combat the “destruction of British values” by an:
influx of soon to be millions of mainly Muslim men of fighting age.
What a charmer. We’re sure he’ll fit right in with a human shit stain like Rupert Lowe.
Reform hemorrhaging councillors
Just two days ago, on 18 February, the Canary’s HG reported on nine other ex-Reform councillors defecting to the extreme-right Restore Britain ‘party’.
Seven Kent County councillors and two North Northamptonshire County Councillors joined Restore, after Reform UK previously expelled six of them.
The mass defection has been an embarrassment for Nigel Farage, who previously touted Kent County Council as a flagship of his party’s local government efforts. Reform won control of Kent Council in May last year, securing 57 of 81 seats. However, only 48 councillors now remain.
It seems that a strong proportion of Reform’s local government officials were along for the ride only until a more viable extreme-right alternative showed up. It’s almost poetic that Farage is proving vulnerable to the same pathetic politics of populist hate mongering that propelled him into government.
Here’s to the two fascists fucking eating one another.
Featured image via the Canary