The More Than 30 Scandal-Hit Reform Candidates Elected Last Week

IMPACT UPDATE: Byline Times investigations have forced the suspension of two Conservative local election candidates after revealing their far-right extremist posts

At least four newly-elected Reform UK councillors appear to have been suspended, expelled or resigned their seats altogether since the local elections in England. They only took place last Thursday.

But there are more than 30 other new Reform councillors who face allegations of wrongdoing, hypocrisy, sharing hateful social media material and more, analysis by Byline Times finds, none of whom appear to have faced any disciplinary action so far.

Let’s start with those already understood to have been suspended, expelled or quit since Thursday. With thanks to Mark Pack’s useful tally.

This is what the “best vetting in the country” looks like, apparently (Reform home affairs chief Zia Yusuf’s words)…

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Already Gone, Or Going

Glenn Gibbins – Hylton Castle, Sunderland (possibly suspended)

Elected with 1,285 votes.

Gibbins was elected after a now-deleted Facebook post emerged in which he allegedly said of Sunderland’s Nigerian community: “should melt them all down and fill in the pot holes!!” (as revealed by HOPE not hate). He is also accused of calling BBC presenters Mel and Sue the “unfunniest fat repulsive lesbian hosts” and saying female sports commentators should “stick to cooking”.

Reform’s Darren Grimes told BBC Politics North that Gibbins had been suspended by the party. But a Reform UK spokesperson then told the BBC the investigation was “still ongoing” with “no decision” yet. Deputy leader Richard Tice MP said to ITV accusations like this constituted “smearing and sneering against all of us”.

Jay Cooper – Bootle West, Sefton (possibly suspended)

Elected with 705 votes.

Cooper allegedly shared a social media post claiming “ultimate proof” the 9/11 terror attacks were fake (as per Huffington Post). He has also been reported by the Liverpool Echo to have responded to a Facebook comment about Hitler by writing: “I don’t agree with him murdering innocent people. But the Hallocaust [sic] is a hoax. There wasn’t [sic] even 6 million Jews in Europe at the time. Propaganda.” Nigel Farage has since said Cooper is “not welcome” in Reform, but we are awaiting confirmation he has been definitively suspended.

Ben Rowe – Ham, Plymouth (suspended)

Elected with 1,649 votes.

Rowe was suspended by Reform within days of his election, after posts on Facebook allegedly fantasised about impaling Muslims, accused “the Jews” of “creating division by forcing other races on our societies” (via The Times), described immigrants as “breeding like rats” and shared blackface memes.

He is also alleged to have urged rioters during the 2024 Southport disorder to “get rid of that filthy building” outside a mosque, as found by HOPE not hate. LBC reported Rowe responded that he “will not comment on the matter”, though on Facebook he is said to have posted that his comments were “taken out of context” – in a post that has now been deleted. Plymouth Reform leader Steve Ricketts told the BBC the party was “thoroughly investigating”.

Daniel Devaney – Clayton & Fairweather Green, Bradford (possibly suspended)

Elected with 1,387 votes.

Despite having said before polling day that he was no longer standing, he remained on the ballot and was elected. It’s not clear if he will now resign.

On Facebook, Devaney is alleged to have said he wanted to “blast [Muslims] all of the face of the earth” and to have called Muslims “pure scum” (via HOPE not hate). The local Telegraph & Argus reported he would no longer stand for Reform amid the resulting criticism.

He later told his local paper: “I said it while I was in a bad mood and watching TV. It was on and I just let off steam.” He added: “They are not scum and that was a bad thing to say and I regret it. I’ve offered to step down from the elections” – saying he was “well out of order” but standing by comments defending Enoch Powell, and adding: “I’m not racist as I help my Asian neighbours.”

Stuart Prior – Rayleigh West (Essex) and Sweyne Park & Grange (Rochford). Resigned

Elected, won two seats. He’s been expelled by Reform and has now resigned both seats.

A joint Daily Mirror and HOPE not hate investigation alleged Prior had posted tweets declaring white people “the master race”, appearing to celebrate the rape of Punjabi and Sikh women, calling black people smaller-brained and Muslims “rats”. The Mirror reported that Prior denied making racist posts, including saying: “I don’t recall that at all, blimey” of one comment, and “goodness me, that is not me” of another.

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Scandal-Accused Reform Councillors Still in the Party

1. Lee Moffitt – Wigan Central, Wigan.

Elected with 1,771 votes.

Reform UK and Moffitt pledged to reduce houses of multiple occupation (HMOs) in Wigan, but his own property firm Lobster Lettings manages and lets HMOs in the borough, according to Manchester Evening News and Wigan Today.

A Labour spokesperson accused him of saying “one thing and doing the opposite”. Moffitt has insisted he has never owned an HMO personally, telling MEN: “Neither I, nor any business that I own, HAVE ever owned nor WILL ever own, an HMO.”

He added the company he part-owns manages “approximately three HMOs for private landlords”, that they are “populated by working people” and that “none of them have ever been occupied by illegal migrants or used as a halfway house for former prisoners”.

2. Gemma Painter – Ince, Wigan

Elected with 1,809 votes.

Painter is reported by Reform UK Exposed to work for Lee Moffitt’s property firm managing HMOs and other properties in the borough. She has not publicly commented on the claim, but Facebook posts from Lobster Lettings in 2019 found by this outlet show a woman with her name recruiting staff for the company.

3. Harry Phillips – Stanwell, Stanwell Moor & Ashford North, Surrey

Elected with 1,427 votes.

Leaked messages reported by Byline Times appear to show Phillips calling constituents “ponces of society”, mocking a stroke survivor’s conditions as “scream benefit scrounger and lazy c**t”, and reportedly telling the recipient that complaints to Reform would be futile because he is “a board member for Reform”.

Phillips did not respond to Byline Times‘ request for comment but the local party chair said Phillips himself had been the victim of harassment, though the chair had apologised directly to the residents in question.

4. Sam Journet – St Martin’s and Vange, Basildon & Essex. Won two seats. Essex is now Reform-controlled

Journet has been re-elected to Basildon Borough Council, and elected to the wider Essex County Council for the first time.

The Reform councillor was arrested in September 2025 at Basildon Council offices on suspicion of stalking, harassment and a public order offence. He was released on conditional bail and Essex Police later confirmed no further action.

Byline Times first reported that he regularly wears Meta-style camera glasses during council meetings and while door-knocking, in a manner described as intimidating by multiple local sources. Journet has said the glasses are “prescription”, but also for “protection.” Journet and Reform UK did not respond to Byline Times‘ multiple requests for comment.

5. Phil Tierney – Chelmsley Wood, Solihull

Elected with 1,264 votes.

Tierney is alleged to have signed a petition referring to Tommy Robinson as “Sir Tommy”, openly posted “I am Islamophobic” on X, reposted an image stating that “no communist or Muslim should be allowed to hold any office”, branded Islam “a plague” and called for all UK mosques to be closed (via the Daily Mail). Tierney declined to comment to the Mail.

A Reform spokesman said the party was “thoroughly investigating these allegations” according to the paper.

6. Paul Donaghy – Washington North, Sunderland (Reform-controlled)

Elected with 1,311 votes. Sunderland’s first Reform councillor following his 2023 defection from the Conservatives, returning to the council after losing his 2024 seat.

Byline Times revealed in January 2026 that Donaghy has had a string of failed businesses despite boasting of his business acumen.

Speaking after his Washington North win, Donaghy told the BBC the result reflected voters being “unhappy with the national picture”, adding: “We need to make sure we do not betray that trust.”

7. Andy Mahon – Blackburn South East, Blackburn with Darwen

Elected with 840 votes.

Mahon is alleged to have made homophobic remarks about politicians, a racist comment using the ‘n’ word, and a remark about Angela Rayner’s weight, in posts on a now-deleted Facebook account, reported by The Independent and HOPE not hate.

HOPE not hate also describes him as a fan of British Union of Fascists founder Oswald Mosley. The chairman of Reform’s Blackburn branch, Tommy Temperley, was reported by the Lancashire Telegraph to have responded to Labour calls for Mahon’s suspension by saying: “Reform UK believes in freedom of speech.”

8. Theresa Arnold – Wombwell, Barnsley

Elected with 1,448 votes.

Arnold is alleged to have said people supporting Ukraine’s war effort should feel like “mugs” and to have compared Volodymyr Zelenskyy to a Nazi – a common Kremlin talking point, as noted by Huffington Post.

9. Jeff Bray – Tendring Rural East, Essex (Reform-controlled)

Elected with 3,297 votes – the highest individual vote total among Reform candidates in our analysis facing allegations.

Bray is alleged to have previously been exposed for hateful social media posts about Muslims, included in HOPE not hate’s Essex “white supremacist” cluster investigation.

A 2010 post in his name allegedly stated: “Not all muslims are terrerists [sic], but all terrerists are muslims.” When contacted for comment by HOPE not hate previously, Bray was reported to have said: “I don’t remember.”

10. Derek Bullock – Hulton, Bolton (Reform-controlled)

Elected with 1,939 votes.

Bullock was twice disciplined by the Conservatives over alleged racist comments, including a 2017 post on his Facebook account which allegedly used a racial slur and called for people of Pakistani heritage to be shot in the aftermath of the Manchester Arena terrorist attack (as per The Guardian.

A Reform spokesperson told The Guardian: “Mr Bullock has always strongly maintained that this image is fake and has reported this resurfaced material to the police. It is also incorrect to claim that Mr Bullock was expelled from the Conservative Party for this post. Mr Bullock is a valued member of his community and is currently a trustee of the Asian Elders’ Resource Centre in Bolton.”

11. Karl Catchpole – Long Stratton, Norfolk

Elected with 1,517 votes.

Catchpole is alleged to have called Enoch Powell “one of the greatest visionaries of the last 50yrs”, to have praised Tommy Robinson as “a caring family man” and to have shared a post by Carl Benjamin (Sargon of Akkad) about David Lammy reading: “Like some corrupt African official, he’s looting us for his own tribe, in broad daylight” (via HOPE not hate).

12. Janine Crook – Darwen West, Blackburn with Darwen

Elected with 1,136 votes.

HOPE not hate alleged that Crook welcomed Patriotic Alternative’s Sam Melia – who was jailed for race hate offences – back to X with “Welcome back x”, endorsed Lee Anderson’s claim that “Islamists” have “got control of London”, and called ‘rivers of blood’ speaker Enoch Powell ‘prophetic’ on Elon Musk’s social media platform.

13. Jonathan Fox – Bristnall, Sandwell (Reform-controlled)

Elected with 1,283 votes.

Fox is alleged to have posted an image of bacon on Facebook in 2019 with the caption: “People who eat bacon are less likely to blow themselves up” (Huffington Post). Reform UK did not respond to the outlet’s request for comment.

14. Paul Godfrey – Hutton East (Brentwood Council) and Brentwood South (Essex CC) – two seats. Essex is Reform-controlled

Elected to both seats: Hutton East (800 votes) and Brentwood South (2,424 votes).

Godfrey is alleged to have promoted the conspiracy theory known as the “5 Stages of Pilling” and the antisemitic-tinged “New World Order” theory positing that elites are colluding to create a totalitarian world government (via HOPE not hate).

15. Glenda Hall – Tunstall & Humbledon, Sunderland (Reform-controlled)

Elected with 1,191 votes.

Hall is alleged to have shared what she called an “interesting video” by conspiracy theorist Vernon Coleman calling Covid the “greatest fraud in human history” engineered by “the Rothschilds, the Rockefellers, the Bilderbergers and the Jesuits”, and to have appeared to endorse a blogpost calling Afghan men “sexual predators” (as reported by The Guardian).

16. Zoe Hockton – Castledon & Crouch, Basildon and Essex (two seats – Essex is now Reform-controlled)

Elected to both councils for the same ward – 2,329 votes (Basildon) and 3,309 votes (Essex), top of the poll in each.

Hockton is alleged to have posted that “the UK is going to become an Islamic caliphate” and to have called for “bacon month every year to coincide with ramadan” (HOPE not hate). Hockton does not appear to have publicly responded.

17. Trevor Jones – Tonge with the Haulgh, Bolton

Elected with 2,089 votes.

Jones is alleged to have shared a crude image of the Covid virus labelled “ITS BULLSHIT” in 2021 (Manchester Evening News). Jones wrote on Facebook of the MEN’s reporting: “They have obviously scrolled through my fb which I leave open for anyone to view and all these panicking weasels can find is a drawing of a virus and a few choice words.”

18. Kabeer Kher – Yare & Necton, Norfolk

Elected with 2,105 votes.

Kher is alleged to be a climate change conspiracy theorist who has posted that “the truth about the climate scam is emerging” and that “CO2 is GOOD for the environment we need MORE of it not less” (HOPE not hate).

19. Julian Kirk – Marshland North, Norfolk

Elected with 1,792 votes.

Kirk is alleged to have shared Elon Musk’s “Free Tommy Robinson!” post in January 2025 and to have promoted a March 2025 message declaring: “There is no negotiation with Islam. You either resist or submit” (HOPE not hate). Kirk has not publicly responded.

20. Steven Lewis – Normanton, Wakefield (Reform-controlled)

Elected with 1,792 votes.

Lewis is alleged to believe Christmas, Easter and New Year’s Eve are “demonic” (HOPE not hate). He repeatedly refers to himself as the “Lion of Judah” and appears to believe he is an angel of God empowered to deliver divine retribution against his enemies. “Santa spells Satan,” he wrote in one post.

21. Nathaniel Menday – Woodhouse, Sheffield

Elected with 1,987 votes.

Menday is alleged to have described himself as an “ethno-nationalist”, to have asked a fellow Sheffield United fan to add a ‘sonnenrad’ – a neo-Nazi sun-wheel emblem – to a flag. The Times also reported that he dubbed the Nazi Olympiastadion’s builders “real visionaries”.

Approached by The Times, Menday apologised for bringing Reform “into disrepute”. He said he enjoyed “risky humour and pushing boundaries”, adding: “I am not antisemitic nor do I have any Nazi sympathies.” He admitted he had flirted with ‘far-right ideology’, but claimed he had “reject[ed] its core tenets.”

22. Brett Muscroft – Castleford Central & Glasshoughton, Wakefield (Reform-controlled)

Elected with 1,923 votes.

Muscroft is alleged to have expressed support for Tommy Robinson and to have shared an image in February 2025 equating Islam to cancer (The Independent). Muscroft has not publicly responded.

23. Russell Quirk – Brentwood Hutton, Brentwood (Essex – Reform-controlled)

Elected with 2,951 votes.

Quirk is alleged to have lumped Covid, climate change and war together as government scare tactics designed by “authoritarians” to justify taxing the public more, writing on 3 June 2025: “Governments love to scare us” (HOPE not hate).

24. Paul Taylor – Waterhead, Oldham

Elected with 1,459 votes.

Taylor is alleged to have liked Islamophobic Facebook posts including doctored images of Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham with brown skin, and comments such as “This is Great Britain not an Islamic colony for them scums” (via Left Foot Forward).

25. Mark Tucker – Old Catton, Norfolk

Elected with 1,006 votes at Old Catton (Norfolk), but lost the Mancroft (Norwich) election with 575 votes.

Tucker is alleged to have promoted climate change and Covid-19 conspiracy theories on X, according to HOPE not hate. The anti-hate group reported in April: “Tucker has also written that the reaction to Covid ‘was a crime against humanity’ and responded, ‘Short & sweet, excellent summary,’ to a video by the conspiracy theorist GB News presenter Neil Oliver, in which he said: ‘Everything about Covid was a lie…’”

26. Axel Tye – Penshaw & Shiney Row, Sunderland (Reform-controlled)

Elected with 1,594 votes.

Tye is reported to have written of Covid: “Stop covid in it’s [sic] tracks in two simple steps. 1. Delete the [NHS] app. 2. Stop getting tested” (as per The Times).

27. Bev Watkins – Crofton, Ryhill & Walton, Wakefield (Reform-controlled)

Elected with 2,192 votes.

Watkins is alleged to have shared hoax content warning against a “new” paracetamol allegedly containing “Machupo” virus, described as “one of the most dangerous viruses in the world” (The Times).

Some of these figures could be in line for powerful council cabinet posts, where Reform has gained power.

Reform UK was contacted for comment.

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