Twelve Reform UK councillors to resign over Nigel Farage’s leadership
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Exclusive: Departures will add to pressure on party leader after Elon Musk said he was ‘not up to the job’. A dozen Reform UK councillors have given notice of their intention to resign en masse in protest at Nigel Farage’s leadership. The resignations could come as early as Friday evening and will add to pressure on the Reform leader after Elon Musk said he was “not up to the job”. They are timed to overshadow the party’s south-east conference this weekend.
The councillors alleged the party was being run in an “autocratic manner” and accused Farage of “disloyalty” to long-term members. There are splits within the party over Tommy Robinson, who is supported by Musk. Farage was set to address hundreds of members on Friday night at the party’s south-east conference, in Esher, as Reform seeks to build on general election momentum in an attempt to win hundreds of seats in local elections this year.
Nevertheless, the potential departure of the 12 councillors – who between them hold two district council seats, nine town council seats and five parish council seats – would mark the loss of a significant chunk of the party’s existing local authority representatives. All are from Derbyshire, a target area for Reform, and include Alex Stephenson, who came second in Amber Valley during the general election with 28% of the vote.
In a statement seen by the Guardian, they said they could not continue “in good conscience” under the leadership of Farage, adding: “We believe that the current party management is either incompetent or malevolent, and we have lost all confidence in the leadership and its structures.”.
