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The Reform UK Mayor of Basildon – who is also Essex County Council’s Cabinet Member for Education, SEND and Skills – has had one of his companies struck off the official register after it failed to file legally required documents, while another has never filed accounts in more than six years.
On 29 September, Genesis Jewellery Ltd, a company Cllr Sam Journet co-owned and directed, was dissolved via compulsory strike-off by Companies House, the official registrar of companies.
Companies House does this when it has reason to believe a company is not carrying on business. It is nearly always triggered by overdue filings. Compulsory strike-off is an administrative step and is common for companies that are no longer used, but failing to file required documents is a criminal offence (albeit one that is rarely prosecuted).
The firm’s confirmation statement – an annual filing confirming details including who owns and controls a company – was due by 28 March 2026. It was never filed. The company’s only set of accounts, covering the year to 31 May 2025, records ‘nil’ on every financial line and no employees.
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Yet when Cllr Journet submitted a fresh register of interests to Basildon Council on 31 July – a fortnight after Companies House gave public notice that Genesis would be struck off – he listed it as a trade carried on “for profit or gain”. That register was published on 21 September. Genesis appears in the same way on his Essex County Council register, where Cllr Journet is Cabinet Member for SEND and Education following a Reform victory in May.
The same Basildon register declares “None” for shareholdings (“securities”, in the register’s terms). His Essex register, by contrast, declares shareholdings in all three of his companies. Companies House records him as holding 75% or more of two of them, both with Basildon addresses. Basildon’s register requires councillors to declare holdings in companies with a place of business or land in the borough, where the holding is worth more than £25,000 or exceeds one hundredth of the company’s share capital.
Councillors’ registers of interest are legally-required to be up to date within 28 days. Some of Cllr Journet’s entries were added late. His August 2025 Basildon register said “None” to sponsorship and to land. Financial support from Reform UK and a land entry appeared only on the September 2026 version, 13 months later.
Reform has set its own standard on registers. In July 2025 it accused Cllr Gavin Callaghan, then Labour leader of the council, of failing to register a company within the 28-day limit, saying: “Failure to register or disclose within the statutory timeframe is a criminal offence… This matter is now with the police.” The gap then was 36 days.
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Business and Finances
Cllr Journet still runs a jewellery shop, trading as Samuel Perry Jewellery, in Basildon’s Eastgate shopping centre. His shop is a tenant of DVS GHL Basildon Ltd, the company that owns Eastgate, which Basildon Borough Council bought in July. The council says the shop is not a direct council tenant. His Essex register lists all three of his companies as renting county council-owned land, but his Basildon one does not.
His company Samuel Perry Jewellery Ltd also faced compulsory strike-off this year. Companies House published a strike-off notice on 17 March over accounts that had been due by 30 September 2025. The company filed them the next day, around five and a half months late. Its latest accounts were filed on time on 29 September.
A third company, WOE Ltd, which Cllr Journet owns and directs, has not filed any accounts since it was set up in January 2020. Its first accounts were due in October 2021. Its confirmation statement was due on 13 February 2022, more than four and a half years ago, and has never been filed.
Companies House began strike-off action in January 2022, but it was suspended within days and has remained on hold since. The company’s registered business is the “retail sale of watches and jewellery in specialised stores”.
Don’t miss a story
Byline Times can also reveal that a county court judgment for £2,587 was entered against Cllr Journet personally on 3 September. It was recorded as unsatisfied when we searched the official register on 23 September. It is not yet clear who the money is owed to.
Meanwhile, Meta’s Ad Library shows he has spent £2,500–£3,000 since 12 March – eight weeks before the May elections, in which he stood for both Basildon and Essex councils – on adverts promoting his Facebook page, where he regularly attacks Labour opponents. The adverts have been seen between 350,000 and 400,000 times.
Some of his posts include branding Labour councillors “crooked” while others are replete with innuendo about alleged wrongdoing. He writes of one Labour councillor: “Someone should check in on his wife to make sure she’s ok.” A post about the previous Labour administration supposedly having its “hands in the Council’s till” recorded approximately 1,400 reactions. Others allege “fraud” without providing evidence.
Meta’s rules bar elected officials from earning money from content. Asked about Cllr Journet, Meta said: “We don’t allow current elected government officials or political candidates to earn money from content on our platforms and we take action when we find accounts that breach our monetization policies. We don’t comment on the status of individual accounts.”
On 4 September, Cllr Callaghan, who now leads the council’s opposition Labour group, wrote to the Prime Minister calling for rules against councillors monetising their social media accounts. (In the letter, he conceded that he had monetised his own pages for a time. He says he donated the proceeds to charity).
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Best Value Notice
This July, the Government issued Basildon Council with a Best Value Notice, citing “serious cultural and governance issues”. The Conservatives on the council did a deal with Reform UK after the May elections, with the Conservatives controlling the Cabinet while Reform were handed control of key committees and the (non-elected) mayoralty.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government missive noted deteriorating relations between councillors and officers, online and in meetings, and instability in the council’s statutory leadership. Official inspectors, paid up to £1,000 a day, are due to report by 30 October. The council says their scope includes member behaviour, but they have not singled out specific councillors.
The Government’s letter said the council had had seven monitoring officers – the statutory officers who oversee councillor conduct complaints – in 18 months. The council puts the figure at three.
A council spokesperson said: “Over the last 18 months there have been three Monitoring Officers (MO) and during this time we have had one potential interim MO withdraw their application without providing any detail. The current MO is on a day rate as approved via the Appointments Committee.
“We provide information to the Best Value team based on their requests. They can determine what information to provide about the information they have reviewed. They set out in their scope that Member behaviour would be looked at and have not singled out specific councillors.”
Cllr Callaghan told a council meeting on 10 September: “I think the public will be slightly alarmed that… [we are] budgeting £280,000 of public money on someone who as far as I’ve just heard, has never presented a CV to the council, and has never completed an application form.”
The council has received 44 code of conduct complaints since 1 May. It will not say how many concern Cllr Journet, but Byline Times is aware of multiple complainants regarding his alleged conduct. A council spokesperson said: “Our policy is not to release figures or details about which councillors have been the subject of complaints.”
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Calls to Resign
More than 1,000 people have now signed a Change.org petition calling for Cllr Journet to resign as Mayor, which also raises concerns about whether his social media activity is earning him money.
The petition states: “Basildon, like any community, deserves leadership that not only meets the expectations of its constituents but inspires confidence and demonstrates dedication to the ethical duties of public service.
“[We] believe the Mayor’s use of social media, including what [we] consider to be misleading information, inflammatory content, and divisive rhetoric, has regrettably undermined public confidence in our local government. Social media is a powerful tool that should be used to inform, engage, and unite residents not to create unnecessary division or controversy.”
Cllr Callaghan is a frequent target of Cllr Journet’s Facebook posts. On 21 September he submitted a statement and evidence to Essex Police about Cllr Journet’s social media conduct. He says he intends to seek an injunction over what he describes as repeated targeting and harassment online. In a sign of how poor councillor relations have become, Cllr Journet has previously said on Facebook that he reported Cllr Callaghan to police.
Cllr Callaghan told Byline Times: “Reform UK have had ample opportunities to deal with Britain’s worst councillor and now they can’t bury their heads in the sand any longer. He must be suspended immediately…Basildon residents need answers, not Facebook posts.”
He asked why Cllr Journet’s “business affairs are in such a mess” and whether he had breached the councillor code of conduct.
“The walls are finally closing in on Journet,” said Cllr Callaghan.
The Basildon Mayor recently added GB News to his sources of income, as an occasional paid guest on the right-wing channel.
Cllr Journet and Reform UK did not respond to requests for comment.
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