Reform UK strips council leader of membership over undisclosed X account

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Reform UK has sacked the leader of Staffordshire County Council, a senior local government figure, after investigating previous racist posts from a social media account linked to him.

The party launched an investigation into councilor Ian Cooper on Wednesday following allegations by group Hope Not Hate that an X account linked to it appeared to have made multiple racist statements about public figures. These accusations included describing London Mayor Sadiq Khan as a “narcissistic Pakistani.”

The expulsion comes as the party struggles to combat allegations of racist behavior by a number of its members, including leader Nigel Farage.

On Friday, more detailed allegations emerged that Farage was racist towards a classmate at Dulwich College in London in the 1980s. Farage denied such accusations, saying they were “joking” or not intended to offend.

Regarding Cooper’s case, Reform UK said on Friday evening: “Following an investigation into the failure to declare social media accounts during the candidate vetting process, Councilor Ian Cooper’s membership of Reform UK has been revoked.”

Cooper did not immediately resign as council president. But other council members are expected to vote him out at Thursday’s meeting if he refuses to resign.

The posts came from an account named @cooper_ian57035. While the councilor has not publicly confirmed he was behind it, the Reform UK manifesto indicated the party had concluded it had control over it.

Cooper did not immediately respond to an email request for comment.

The Guardian reported the latest allegations about Farage’s behavior as a schoolboy. Yinka Bankole, who was born in the UK to Nigerian parents, was quoted as saying that Farage repeatedly taunted him during his year at school, saying: “This is the way back to Africa.”

Correction UK did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Bankole’s allegations. The Guardian said a total of 28 fellow pupils had come forward with allegations that Farage had made racist or anti-Semitic comments to them while they were at the school.

Farage insisted he did not make comments about his fellow pupils in a “hurtful or insulting way”.

Labor leader Anna Turley said on Friday evening that it was time for Farage to “take responsibility and sincerely apologise” to those who had bravely come forward.

In Staffordshire, Philip White, leader of the council’s Conservative group, pointed to the emergence of other examples of alleged intolerance among Reform UK members of the council.

Last month, Peter Mason, the council’s reform cabinet member for highways, apologized for his landmark posts which included describing the statue as a “fat black woman”.

“It was inevitable that Ian Cooper would go, but reform has done nothing to address the intolerance that appears to be rooted in their Staffordshire branch,” White said.

Wyatt also called on Cooper to resign from his position as councilor and criticized the party for canceling his membership over his failure to disclose the account.

Reform has faced a series of problems since the party significantly increased its representation on county councils in England at elections earlier this year.

Four Kent county councilors have been suspended from the party over a leaked video showing internal discord in the party. Councilors from other parties on Lancashire County Council have accused corrections councilors of intimidating them – an allegation the party denies.

In addition to posts related to Khan, the @cooper_ian57035 account was critical of David Lammy, the current Justice Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister. No foreign national or first-generation immigrant should be allowed to sit in parliament, the account wrote. Lamy was born in London to Guyanese parents.

Reform said another councilor – Martin Murray – has been appointed as interim leader of the party group at Staffordshire Council until a permanent replacement is elected.

Additional reporting by Jennifer Williams