Lammy calls on Reform to 'stamp out 50s hate'

The deputy prime minister has branded as "1950s-style hate" a set of racist social media posts about him to which Reform UK councillors were accused of having links.

In a message on X, David Lammy called on Reform's national leader Nigel Farage to "clean up" the party, adding he would not be cowed by racism.

Two of the posts referenced by Lammy have alleged links to Staffordshire County Council members, including resigned leader Ian Cooper.

Reform UK said Lammy's words were "crocodile tears" from someone who had falsely branded Nigel Farage a Hitler Youth member, failed to apologise, and had previously demanded Britain "bankrupt itself by handing over trillions in slavery reparations".

Lammy said as deputy prime prime minister, he was focused on delivering for the British people and tended to ignore "the noise".

But he said he had been prompted to speak as in the past week he had been sent stories of which social media content about him was the focus.

One post had stated "no foreign national or first-generation migrant should be allowed to sit in Parliament".

Mr Lammy said the poster seemed to be unaware he was a British citizen born in North London.

Further activity addressed by Lammy was endorsement for a comment calling him a "greedy none (sic) thoroughbred".

The first, appearing on X, came from an account that according to allegations by activist group Hope Not Hate had links to Cooper, who resigned as Staffordshire County Council leader on Wednesday just days after having his Reform UK membership revoked at the end of a party probe into social media content.

The party last Friday had described the process with reference to Cooper as "an investigation into the failure to declare social media accounts during the candidate vetting process".

Cooper has been contacted by the BBC multiple times for comment.

The other content, appearing on TikTok, gained a "like" that came from an account bearing the name of the authority's cabinet member for finance Chris Large - "cllrchrislarge" - and featured numerous videos of him discussing politics.

Large has previously denied he was personally behind the activity and said he fully condemned the content of the offensive remarks.

Reform UK previously told the BBC the party would not be taking any action against Large over the issue.

Mr Lammy said on X: "I will never be cowed by racism. But I will call it what it is."

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