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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 the jailed far-right activist 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, Surrey, 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.”
They cited a lack of internal democracy, claiming that a new constitution adopted by the party at its annual conference was flawed and that there had been no progress towards a promise by Farage to democratise Reform, which was set up as a company in which he holds a controlling stake.
The councillors backed the Farage critic and former joint deputy leader Ben Habib, whom they said had been “unceremoniously dumped” and was the man who “truly represents the vision and values that drew us to Reform UK”.
Musk called for Farage to be replaced as the Reform leader less than three weeks after the pair held seemingly warm talks at Donald Trump’s Florida home.
The remarks threw into doubt the speculation that the US billionaire could fund Reform after he met Farage and Nick Candy, Reform UK’s new treasurer, at Trump’s home in Mar-a-Lago in December. Musk has since been reposting comments on X by Habib – including a call by him for Robinson to be released from prison.
Reform UK has been facing a schism over its approach to Robinson’s supporters after Richard Tice, the deputy leader of Reform, said last year that the the party “want nothing to do with” Robinson “and all of that lot”. However, in a sign that Farage may be calibrating his position to please Musk, he told GB News this week that he does “question” why Robinson was in prison.
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Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley Lennon, was jailed in October for 18 months after admitting contempt of court by repeating false claims against a Syrian refugee.
Reform has about 50 councillors and a steady trickle have been defecting to the party from the Tories, and elsewhere, over the past year.
Reform’s 2024 London mayoral candidate, Howard Cox, left the party on Thursday, claiming he had been told to “keep clear” of Robinson or else he would be expelled.
Farage on Thursday claimed the resignations were from an “out-of-control branch” and involved a number of councillors who had failed Reform UK vetting.
“Alex Stephenson has been suspended from the party and the reason is that he was putting up candidates for parish council elections which were unvetted, which is against the rules. We have known this branch was out of control for some time.”
