Reform UK party leaders accused of 'bullying' and breaking election promises by ex-councillor

Reform took control of Durham County Council in last year’s local elections, winning 65 of the authority’s 98 seats in what was seen as a flagship victory for the party.

But Councillor Nick Brown, who represented West Auckland, resigned from Reform on Thursday, citing what he described as a “lack of leadership” and concerns about conduct within the group.

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In his resignation letter, he claimed local leaders were putting political ambition ahead of delivering on the mandate they were given, acting as “yes-men” to the national party.

Speaking to LBC, Cllr Brown alleged that members had been belittled by deputy council leader and broadcaster Darren Grimes, as well as council leader Andrew Husband.

“The way we were treated was a principal reason,” he said. “A number of incidents have come to a head recently.”

He also confirmed he has raised an allegation of a potential breach of the Members’ Code of Conduct relating to Councillor Grimes, following what he described as attacks on him and another councillor in an email thread.

On social media, Cllr Grimes has written that “apparently, I’m ‘too harsh’ on underperforming councillors. Guilty - and proud.

“I won’t apologies for demanding a top flight team when residents are paying top rate bills.”

Cllr Brown said the issue was “not an isolated incident” and did not reflect behaviour he considered appropriate for someone in public office.

“You just have to look at Darren and other people's track record of complaint. There is absolutely no doubt that some of it is partisan, party, political.

"But I’ve even heard people who describe themselves as friends of Darren, say that he said a time he sails too close to the wind."

It has cost the council £18,297.01 to deal with complaints about Reform councillors - though no Code of Conduct complaints received since May last year have progressed to investigation.

Cllr Grimes says these are “vexatious”, and the result of opposition engaging in “political lawfare”, weaponising the complaints system.

Cllr Husband has strongly denied the claims, telling LBC there is “no evidence” to support the accusations.

LBC has seen messages posted by Cllr Brown in a party WhatsApp group in which he described certain comments as “not appropriate in any forum, public or private."

He claims anybody “not onboard the Nigel Farage Express” was targeted - from councillors, council staff and members of the public.

Cllr Brown said “shambolic behaviour” runs through other parties as well - but insists Reform were voted in to “be better than this.”

"I think unfortunately, some people are in it for their careers. They're in it for the power that being an MP. Some of them have told me that they want to sit in the House of Lords.

“The general election - that’s what everyone’s eyes are turned towards.”

In his resignation letter, Mr Brown wrote that the party was avoiding “rocking the boat” - and was not bringing in the sweeping changes that their election campaign had promised.

Speaking to LBC, he said the party were not living up to their ‘reform’ name: “We've done a lot of good stuff - I just think we could do a damn site, more good stuff. And I don't see that it's going to happen because they don't want to seriously rock the boat.

“We were elected to rock the boat. It was all over our campaign literature. We had a thumping majority.

“Whatever Nigel tells you, he didn't expect that. Nobody expected that. And now we have a duty to these people. They expected real change, real reform, and we're just, in my opinion, not doing enough of that.”

These claims have been rubbished by Cllr Husband, who told LBC the party has “the highest standards in politics.

“We barely hear from Reform HQ, we are probably one of the most low maintenance councils for Reform UK in the country.”