Reform Watch: National director Adam Bounds shared far-right content and female chief resigns in Wales
Each week we cast over eyes over what Reform UK have been up to - from proclamations to the detail of how their attempts to run councils are going.
The Lead is keeping an eye on Reform UK and their fellow travellers. Get in touch on X, Bluesky and Instagram or email ella@thelead.uk with tips and stories. We especially want to hear from readers whose local council is now run by Farage’s followers. In today’s edition
An investigation by Hope Not Hate found that Reform UK national director Adam Bounds, who shared far-right content on a now-deleted X account, tried to recruit members to a “physical resistance group” that would use “gorillas by night tactics” via Telegram.
Reform UK has lost two more councillors, this time in Northumberland, for breaching the party’s rules (although it’s not clear which ones). Berwick North councillor Nicole Brooke and Norham and Islandshire’s Patrick Lambert have been suspended pending a party investigation. That brings the total figure of lost councillors up to 2022 since May 2025.
Reform has also lost its last female branch chair in Wales – Julie Price – who has resigned over “personal reasons”. She is the tenth Reform Wales branch chair to leave her role within the last few months.
Nigel Farage’s warning that “all better really be seeking alternative careers very, very quickly,” has once again fallen flat, with a job listing for West Northamptonshire’s chief executive offering three days of remote work a week, for £200,000 a year.
There has been much furore over the Prime Minister’s branding of Reform’s policy to scrap indefinite leave to remain racist. He has since backtracked, telling the media that Farage and his followers racist, but a YouGov poll suggests the majority of the public disagree. According to the poll, more than four in ten Britons consider the Reform UK party (47 per cent), policies (46 per cent) and voters (43 per cent) to be “generally racist”.
And finally, Reform’s former Wales leader has pleaded guilty to accepting bribes in return for making statements in favour of Russia and pro-Russian media in the European parliament. Farage and his head of policy, Zia Yusuf, claim no allegiance to Gill, but there is plenty of evidence to suggest otherwise. More on this story on Friday as part of our regular The Lead Untangles series. Subscribe now so you don’t miss it.
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