Reform UK has been rocked by a revolt of 10 councillors, after they resigned over Nigel Farage’s leadership following Elon Musk’s online outburst calling for his resignation.
After the party leader distanced himself from Musk’s support for hardline activist Tommy Robinson, the tech mogul hit out at Farage, claiming that he was “not up to the job” and must resign.
However, although the Clacton MP has said that he has since made efforts to mend his relationship with the richest man in the world, he remained steadfast in his refusal to follow Musk’s lead in advocating for Robinson to be freed.
Subsequently, 10 councillors have resigned over the ex-MEP’s leadership, alleging that the party was run in an “autocratic manner”, accusing Farage of “disloyalty” to long-term members and a lack of “effective communication”.
Although the Clacton MP has said that he has made efforts to mend his relationship with the richest man in the world, he remained steadfast in his refusal to follow Musk’s lead in advocating for Stephen Yaxley-Lennon to be freed
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The local politicians held seats across the district, town and parish councils – all in Derbyshire.
Alex Stevenson was just one of those who chose to resign, and had previously stood for the parliamentary constituency of Amber Valley in the General Election last July.
Farage has insisted the resignations were from a branch that was “out of control” and had a number of “unvetted” candidates.
“Alex Stevenson 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,” Farage told the Guardian.
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He added: “We have known this branch was out of control for some time.”
Zia Yusuf, the party’s chairman, also took to Musk’s platform to defend Reform’s reputation, saying: “The leader of this group of “councillors” was suspended weeks ago by Reform for: 1) nominating candidates that failed vetting. 2) fraudulently nominating candidates with an invalid DNO certificate.
“As a result of (2), several of these ‘councillors’ are illegitimate and new elections must be held.
“Reform stands for the highest standards in public life, and those who commit fraud will always be expelled.”
Meanwhile, Zia Yusuf, the party’s chairman, also took to Musk’s platform to defend Reform, insisting that the “leader” of the group of resigned had been suspended “weeks ago”
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Previously, Farage revealed he was hoping to fix his relationship with Musk when he flew over to Washington DC for the inauguration of their mutual ally Donald Trump.
“Many of my American friends have seen one side of the Robinson story. He says he is in prison for exposing the grooming gangs and they go ”oh my goodness me, this is dreadful, he is a political prisoner”,” he told LBC last week.
“The fact is he has been in prison many times over the years – three times for contempt of court – and once he almost brought down a trial at which gang rapists were ultimately convicted.
“I am on a campaign in America at the moment to educate people as to just who Tommy Robinson really is.”
Farage has announced that he would spend around five days in America over Trump’s inauguration, adding: “I have no desire to go to war with Elon Musk and I’m not going to, and I haven’t done. I’m a huge admirer of him, I think he’s an heroic figure.”