Recycling centre should stay open in heatwave, says Reform man, as 'African' workers 'like the hot weather'

Another day, another local Reform figure speaking his brains… this time a parliamentary candidate moaning about why his local recycling centre should dare to be closed on one of the hottest days in recent years when “most of the people who work down here are African” and “like the hot weather”.

Tim Wheeler runs Reform’s branch in Hillingdon, West London, and stood as the party’s candidate in Uxbridge and South Ruislip at the last general election, coming third.

This week he set off to his local recycling centre, only to find it closed due to the soaring heat (temperatures in West London hit 34° yesterday). Rather than accept it with good British grace, though, Wheeler took to social media to voice his frustrations – unaccountably wearing a large Reform rosette pinned to his grey t-shirt.

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“Here I am from Reform UK, just off to drop off some garden waste down at Rickmansworth Recycling Centre,” he told followers. “Guess what? Without any notice, without any warning, it’s shut.

“I’ve been on to Three Rivers Council, they say it’s not their responsibility, they say it’s to do with someone called Heart Waste. So I’ve called them, waited for 10 minutes, spoke to a nice man called Peter who said it’s not his decision, it’s not their decision, it’s the county council’s decision.

“Now, there’s lots of people here, it’s a bit chaotic, OK, ‘cause people don’t know. There’s no notice, there’s no nothing. But apparently it’s because of the weather, the hot weather.

“As I pointed out, most of the people who work down here are African. They like the hot weather. For God’s sake, I’m down here, chopped-down trees, this is just typical of the idiots that run this country.”

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It’s not Wheeler’s first social media gaffe. He sought to stand in the Harefield ward for this year’s elections to Hillingdon Council, promising the leafy village would not be “Islamified” under him. Alas, in the video he managed to spell Harefield two different ways, neither of which were correct (he also referred to “Two Tear” policing). He eventually stood in Ruislip Manor but failed to be elected.

Still, at least he finds time to relax. When not politicking, he is the lead singer in Tim & The Deadbeat Gentleman Soldiers, whose satirical ditties, available on YouTube, include Lesbian in My Garden (“There’s a lesbian in my garden/I beg your pardon/She’s in my garden/There’s a lesbian in my garden and she’s stomping all over my plants”).

The song’s video, though – featuring as it does a number of men unconvincingly dressed as women and a disclaimer that “No crossdressers were harmed in the making of this film” – rather suggests that Wheeler is unclear what a lesbian is.