Boam has had 40 complaints made against him since May last year
The leader of Leicestershire County Council, Dan Harrison, has written to Richard Tice calling on him to expel a fellow Reform councillor.
In the letter, Harrison criticised sacked deputy leader, Joseph Boam, for sharing an “I stand with ICE” graphic on X just hours after ICE fatally shot nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.
Harrison even asked Tice to “kick Joseph out of the party”.
Michael Squires, another Reform councillor in Leicestershire, also said ICE officers were doing “heroic work saving the United States of America”.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) reported that Harrison sent an email to all staff at Leicestershire County Council about Boam’s post in support of Donald Trump’s Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) department.
“I am aware that some staff will have been upset by the posts, and I wanted to address that directly,” Harrison wrote.
“These messages were posted without my knowledge or blessing.
“It is not appropriate for county councillors to get involved in or comment publicly on what is a serious matter for the US government.”
In his letter to Tice, Harrison said that there had been 79 complaints made about Reform councillors since the party took control of Leicestershire County Council last May.
Of those 79 complaints, 40 were about 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.”
After sending the letter, Harrison said it is now up to HQ “to decide how they wish to proceed”.
Boam said he had called Reform HQ, and that he is still in the party.
He said: “I am still in the party, so there’s nothing to worry about. [I have] always got on with Dan and have known him a while, so I don’t know where it’s all come from.”
He added: “I’m thought of quite highly by [Reform] HQ.”
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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