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A week is a long time in politics and never has that been more the case than with Reform UK.
In recent weeks we’ve been closely following the party’s dozen councils they took control of back in May and detailing the many scandals, resignations, cancelled meetings and culture wars they have been getting themselves involved in.
After each piece we publish, we’ve been inundated with yet more examples of what’s been happening as Nigel Farage’s fledgling party meets the reality of actually managing local government, as well as holding ministers to account nationally.
Here’s a roundup of just some of what we’ve seen over the past week.
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1. Reform’s anti-home working policy ‘will cost millions‘
Reform’s hardline anti-home working policy is already crashing into the reality of modern Britain.
At Durham County Council, where the party took control in May, it has emerged that they would need to find an additional 13,500 square meters of office space to accommodate all council staff working full-time in the office – as the party seems to be demanding – according to analysis of council data.
Durham would face between £3-5 million in extra annual costs, including £1.3 million in running costs and £2-4 million in financing costs for new accommodation, all on top of an existing £23 million budget deficit, digging by writer Paul Ilett has found.
When you factor in having to replace staff who would quit over the policy, Reform’s anti-WFH policy looks very expensive indeed. One for their Department of Local Government Efficiency?
2. Flexible on flexible working?
Mind you, Reform councils may be starting to have doubts about scrapping flexible working policies, as they start to realise the reality of working life in 2025.
In Reform-run North Northamptonshire, which would require 9,700 square meters more office space to implement the policy, adding approximately £328,000 annually to their costs, the council’s new Reform leader, Cllr Martin Griffiths, appears to already be backtracking, reversing previous pledges to insist all staff come into the office.
A mole working for the council tells Byline Times that Griffiths either realised the cost and impracticality of the policy or never intended to implement it and was simply “playing to the gallery.”
The council staffer, who asked to remain anonymous to protect their job, said: “The more rational approach [to Working from Home] has been fed back to staff from senior officers. My concern is that the damage is done anyway and people will be spooked and work elsewhere.”
There are concerns that the damage has already been done and staff members may seek employment elsewhere due to the anti-working-from-home stance.
BBC Bosses Draw Up Plans to Win Over Reform Voters by Changing News and Drama Output
The Director General Tim Davie and other executives discussed altering BBC “story selection” in order to secure the “trust” of supporters of Nigel Farage’s party
3. Reform councillor in expenses probe
A Reform UK councillor in the Crediton area of Devon has been reported to police – by his own Reform colleagues – for potentially breaching election campaign spending limits.
The local Crediton Courier reports: “Neil Stevens, who won the Alphington and Cowick seat in May’s Devon County Council elections by just 72 votes, has been reported by a fellow Reform UK councillor for the alleged overspend, and for a suspected false election expenses return submission.
Reform councillor Ed Hill told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that he had told Mr Stevens the cost of podcast equipment had to be included in his expenses return, and warned this would take him over his spending limit. He claims this advice was ignored.
Neil Stevens’ brother Tony Stevens was also reported to police as part of the complaint.
Cllr Hill, who was also elected for Reform in May, was chairman of the Exeter branch – but was removed from the post for what the party says was bringing it “into disrepute”, the BBC reported.
4. Disgraced ex-cop
Andrew Hamilton-Gray won a council seat in Loughborough for Reform UK with almost 40% of the vote, despite having been dismissed as a police officer without notice in 2019.
BBC East Midlands reported: “It has now emerged that a police misconduct hearing in January 2024 found he had called in sick, to travel to Spain, when he should have been working as a PC.
“The misconduct hearing found that was one of two occasions when he reported [being] sick to pursue his outside business interests.”
Perhaps when Reform now talks about ‘lazy public servants’, they are speaking from experience.
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5. Disgraced ex-cop No. 2
At least one other sacked (ex) police officer is now a Reform council candidate.
Stuart Ball’s dismissal from Avon & Somerset Police followed an incident in 2019 where he claimed “finder’s rights” over a basketball his son found in Sports Direct.
The Bath Echo reports that a police misconduct panel heard that Ball ordered a shop assistant to the police station, and got into a “heated” exchange with the shop manager who asked him to leave.
“The manager took the ball to Wells Police Station the following day and complained about Mr Ball’s behaviour, whereupon Mr Ball