Reform has switched leaders less than a year after taking control of the council
The former Reform leader of Worcestershire County Council, Jo Monk, has been ousted after Reform councillors voted to replace her.
As reported by the BBC, Monk lost an internal leadership vote to councillor Alan Amos, meaning he now leads the Reform group and is set to become county council leader in May.
Reform runs Worcestershire as a minority administration, after winning 25 out of 57 seats on the council last May.
In February, the Reform administration voted through a council tax increase of almost 9% due to the council’s ailing finances.
The council was also granted £59.9 million in emergency support from the government to prevent it from effectively going bankrupt.
In March, the Lib Dems put forward a no confidence motion seeking to oust Monk due to the council tax increase.
Amos was part of the previous Conservative administration on the council which Reform has consistently criticised for leaving the local authority in “a mess”.
Amos was a Tory MP in Northumberland in the late 1980s and early 90s. He was forced to resign in 1992 for alleged indecency on Hampstead Heath.
He went on to become a member of Labour and a Labour councillor in 2002, before rejoining the Conservatives in 2015. Amos joined Reform in April 2025.
As a Tory councillor in 2016, he suggested it was far too easy for women to report allegations of rape.
The Tories have accused Reform of overseeing “chaos” by replacing their leader.
Councillor Adam Kent, opposition Conservative group leader, said: “Worcestershire deserves serious, stable leadership.
“What we’re seeing here feels less like a political movement and more like a vehicle for one individual’s ambition, constantly shifting direction depending on what suits him at the time.”
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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