From Durham to Leicestershire, more local triumphs for Reform

Reform’s candidate for the seat is Theo Bell, who wants “to make sure that change is felt on the streets of Murton, not spent on more woke nonsense by Lib-Lab politicians. I’m a Murton lad, and I’m ready to get stuck in”.

The press release from Durham’s council leader, Andrew Husband, announcing Bell’s selection, lists the “people’s priorities” Reform had already delivered in power locally, including “Ending the Net-Zero Noose: We scrapped the performative ‘Climate Emergency’.” Which is awkward, as Bell’s own LinkedIn profile shows he is currently a salesman for Sunderland-based Honest Power, a, er, ‘Solar Electric Power Generation’ firm. Sounds a lot like the Net-Zero Noose!

Bell’s own statement says that “Murton has been treated like a safe seat for too long by people who either didn’t show up or didn’t care”. Surely he doesn’t mean his own potential predecessor Cumming, who lasted just seven months in the seat before heading for pastures new?

Down in Leicestershire, meanwhile, Reform’s council leader is trying to have the man who just last year he appointed as his deputy expelled from the party.

Last month Rats in a Sack reported how Joseph Boam, who briefly served as the council’s deputy leader last year before being sacked for being hopeless, marked the killing of 37-year-old intensive care nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis by posting a large ‘I STAND WITH ICE’ poster on his X account.

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Rats in a Sack

Rather than an obscure outlier, Boam is considered a rising star in Nigel Farage’s party despite being summarily sacked as Leicestershire’s deputy leader and lead member for adult social care positions after just three months last year when it emerged he wasn’t up to the job.

Now Dan Harrison, the leader who first appointed him, then gave him the heave-ho, has written to Reform high command to ask for him to be kicked out of the party entirely over his support for the trigger-happy MAGA militia. Harren has written to deputy leader Richard Tice urging him to “kick Joseph out of the party”.

In his letter to Tice, Harrison said 79 complaints had been made about Reform councillors since the party took power, of which fully 40 were lodged against Boam.

“What has been Joseph’s reaction?” Harrison said. “He blamed it all on the woke left wing, fake news or political smears. I was appalled at his lack of ownership of the problems he created.” The ICE post was “the final straw”, he said.

Boam is more relaxed, however. “I’m thought of quite highly by Reform HQ, so I don’t think there’s anything to worry about,” he has told the BBC.

Still, if Leicestershire needs a new Reform councillor, there’s an exciting new talent currently standing by a by-election to Leicester City Council following the death of the Labour incumbent in Stoneygate.

Michael Dabrowski’s manifesto, posted on his Facebook page, is “Its [sic] time to rebuild the city of leicester [sic] we need build [sic] the Communities [sic] of Leicester let [sic] make leicester [sic] great again lets [sic] start fixing the problems and stop wasting money”. Give that man the education portfolio immediately!