Lancashire's Reform UK leader responds to councillor's suspension over WhatsApp chat
The Reform UK leader of Lancashire County Council says he has “no reason to believe” that any other members of his administration would be part of a social media group of the kind that has led to one of them being suspended.
Stephen Atkinson was speaking after the party launched an investigation into the authority’s now former lead member for finance and resources, County Cllr Tom Pickup.
The Padiham and Burnley West division representative was suspended by Reform last Wednesday (19th November) – pending the outcome of that probe – after it emerged he had been a member of a WhatsApp group in which others had allegedly shared extremist far-right messages, including a call for a “mass Islam genocide”.
County Cllr Pickup said he was not aware of that kind of content within the group and told The Guardian that he did not support it, citing his “community engagement work with the Islamic community”.
In one of his own messages, however, published by the Reform Party UK Exposed account on X, County Cllr Pickup suggested Reform was keeping quiet about the more “hardline” approach it ultimately wants to take to immigration.
County Cllr Atkinson told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) he had learned about the suspension and the reason for it when the news began to emerge last week.
Asked whether he was shocked by the development, County Cllr Atkinson said: “I was just told by [Reform] central office that he was being suspended and they were going to go through…an investigation that may lead to a disciplinary process.
“I also believe there is a complaint against the council through the code of conduct, so it’s not appropriate for me to get into a conversation about this until it’s reached its conclusion.”
The County Hall leader was also asked whether he had taken any steps to satisfy himself that nobody else within the now 52-strong Reform group on the county council was part of any similar WhatsApp groups – or whether he had any reason to suspect that they would be. In response, County Cllr Atkinson said: “I have no reason to believe they would be.”
County Cllr Pickup, who is now sitting as an independent, told the LDRS last week that his suspension was “the right thing to do” – but that he “look[ed] forward to the facts coming out” during the investigation that has now begun.
In one of his published messages, which he accepts are genuine, County Cllr Pickup said in response to a claim made by one of the WhatsApp group’s members that the “majority of Brits want mass deportations and re migration [sic]”:
“I agree, I think a clear and detailed policy on immigration will be rolled out quite soon, but until now as the party have been growing it’s been good to use tact to get us there, previous hardline parties have all failed by not doing this approach”.
In a separate message – it is unclear whether sent later or earlier – he wrote: “I’m a Reform councillor, everyone in Reform is a lot more hardline on immigration than is typically stated publicly, to get a majority government we have to be tactical.”