Reform UK elects third leader after racism scandal

Reform UK has its third leader in Staffordshire since December after predecessors departed amid allegations of racism.

Reform UK is the controlling party on Staffordshire County Council and following members' vote on Tuesday, Martin Murray leads the group, although the matter of who will lead the authority itself is subject to an election at a council meeting next week.

It follows a period which saw Ian Cooper stand down under a cloud of racism allegations linked to social media activity, and then the exit of Cooper's successor Chris Large who was subject to an inquiry into racist posts that he denied writing.

Murray had been acting leader in between the developments and following them.

In his tenure in that capacity, he has overseen a radical local government re-organisation proposal and set the authority's budget.

Murray had been appointed deputy leader when Reform took control of the council in May last year.

It is likely he will take charge as leader of the council next week, given Reform's substantial majority in the chamber.

Large was appointed leader in January, but he stood down, citing a bereavement and is now no longer a member of Reform.

He was the subject of a council standards inquiry into reports of racist posts that he denied writing or endorsing on his Tiktok account, which has been deleted.

Both he and Cooper remain as councillors on the authority, sitting as independents.

Cooper had his membership of Reform UK revoked after being accused of making racist comments on social media.

Reacting to Reform appointing another new leader in the county, the Conservative leader of the opposition Philip White said Murray needed to take action to draw a line under the scandals that had rocked the council.

White said he had called for Murray to remove Peter Mason, the cabinet member for highways, who apologised for his social media activity that included derogatory comments about black women.

The authority's standards and code of conduct group said since the material was written before Mason took office, no action would be taken.

In a statement, White said: "After 100 days of chaos caused by racism scandals we are about to appoint our third council leader since December.

"Staffordshire has huge challenges including roads in the worst state we have ever seen and growing demand for social care and special educational needs, so we need Reform to move on from their internal issues to focusing on running the council."

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