Ex-Reform councillors speak out about infighting and bullying at flagship Reform council

Several former Reform UK councillors have spoken out to Sky News about chaos, bitter infighting and allegations of harassment and bullying at Durham County Council.

This comes after a Byline Times investigation last month that shed light on the goings on at the council, including claims that Reform councillors drank wine at an afternoon meeting and that the council leader Andrew Husband made a jibe about mental health. 

The group of ex-councillors, who now sit as independents, described Reform’s running of the council as “disappointing”, “shambolic” and “a bit of a s*** show”.

As part of its investigation, Sky News spoke to a dozen people within the Reform-run council.

Reform won 65 out of 98 seats on Durham County Council in May 2025, but has lost 13 councillors since then. 

One ex-Reform councillor, Kate Rowland, described the leadership’s behaviour as “narcissistic”, stating: “It’s very much a case of our way or the highway and if you’re not doing what we say, you’re out.”

Rowland added: “If somebody attacks one of them, they become like dogs and attack back.”

Ex-Reform councillor Nick Brown, who stood to run the council but didn’t win, said he thinks “the vast majority” of residents will say “‘actually things have got worse’” under Reform.

Brown said of Reform’s leadership: “The council’s more aloof now, and our elected representatives are just not listening to us.”

Ian Catchpole, the most recent councillor to resign from Reform, described Husband’s leadership as “autocratic”, adding “they don’t like challenge”.

Another former Reform councillor, Andrew Harrison, described the culture at the council as “toxic” and said he believed there are more Reform councillors on the brink of quitting.

He said: “Everyone is looking over their shoulder, people are afraid to speak out.”

Kenny Hope, a former army veteran who has complex PTSD, said he was unhappy about a comment Husband made about mental health being “woke”. 

Husband claims that he said “Virtue Signalling about mental health in such a way is woke”. Hope and Rowland said he said mental health itself is “woke”. 

Catchpole said Husband’s comments about mental health were “massively disrespectful”, and that the leadership were “laughing, they were joking, they were chatting, they were on their phones”.

Hope said he wrote to the national party in April, asking them to address these “cultural and procedural issues”. However, he said he never received a reply.

Hope resigned from Reform in May, after being suspended pending an investigation. 

In a post on Facebook, Reform deputy leader Richard Tice dismissed the investigation, accusing Sky News and journalist Cathy Newman of “lies”. 

Photo credit: Sky News

Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward