It is not the first time that the Reform group on Staffordshire County Council has been embroiled in racism allegations
Another Reform councillor has made the headlines for all the wrong reasons. This time the party’s former group leader on Staffordshire County Council is facing a council probe over allegations of racism.
The BBC reports that councillor Chris Large, who was also a cabinet member, wrote or endorsed racist comments on his TikTok account.
It reports: “An Independent Investigating Officer is conducting a “further investigation”, because of the “complexity of the matter and the serious nature” of allegations made, the council said.
“Large denied and condemned the comments, saying the account was hacked, and there had been “unknown logins… and the account was deleted”.
It is not the first time that the Reform group on Staffordshire County Council has been embroiled in racism allegations, with the council’s previous leader, Ian Cooper, being kicked out of Reform after allegedly making racist comments on social media.
Large was due to replace Cooper.
It’s also been revealed by the BBC that when Large was announced as the next leader on Staffordshire County Council, he was billed as a ‘chief executive in the finance and banking industry for more than 30 years’.
However, a deeper look on Companies House revealed that Large is listed as being the director of 12 companies in the last 20 years, all of which are stated as dissolved.
Large stepped down from his position as leader last week, citing a family bereavement as the reason for doing so.
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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