Reform UK councillor defects to Restore Britain

Charles Whitford, previously a member of Leicestershire County Council's cabinet, announced he had moved to Restore Britain on Thursday.

A Reform UK spokesperson told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) Whiford had "betrayed his electors and the mandate he was given in order to become affiliated with a movement that is not even registered with the Electoral Commission".

Whitford told the LDRS he had switched parties after having "clashes" with Harrison.

Harrison said he had "no problems or arguments" with Whitford, who represents the Markfield, Desford and Thornton division.

Whitford told the LDRS Harrison had suspended him from the council's cabinet for six weeks.

The BBC understands the suspension followed a complaint about Whitford which was made to the council's monitoring officer in October.

Whitford said: "He [Harrison] just kicked me out.

"He made my life quite difficult as a councillor."

Whitford told the LDRS he left Reform UK on Thursday after withdrawing his membership and was later "expelled" from the party.

The LDRS previously reported that there were several complaints from residents about Whitford's comments in relation to alleged aggressive behaviour around the erection of flags in their community.

Whitford claimed the people raising the flags were doing so to "reject" the "destruction of British values" amid an alleged "influx of soon to be millions of mainly Muslim men of fighting age".

Whitford also claimed in the emails that immigrants were coming to make the UK a "Muslim state", leading to one of the residents accusing him of "whipping up hatred" with his words.

He told the LDRS: "People just didn't like what I said, and they complained about me." He added that he had "done nothing wrong".

Speaking of his defection, Whitford said: "Reform has drifted more to the left, and Rupert [Lowe] is where Reform was at the beginning, and that is my politics. I feel comfortable with them, and it's nice to be with a political group."

Reform leader Dan Harrison said he did not wish to comment on any investigations or clashes with Whitford but wished him "all the best".

He said: "He [Whitford] said 'I've applied to go elsewhere and if I'm accepted, I'll be going', and he's just been that character from day one.

"He's not been a settled soul and that's the end of it.

"These things do happen and it doesn't alter anything.

"Good luck to him. I've got no argument or problems with him. He told me, and that's decent of him, and what more can you say?"

Lowe, who represents Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, welcomed Whitford's defection on X, claiming "the patriots keep coming and coming".

A Reform spokesperson said: "We are disappointed that he has betrayed his electors and the mandate he was given in order to become affiliated with a movement that is not even registered with the Electoral Commission.

"Reform UK has a zero tolerance approach to those that plan to betray our hard working members that got them elected in the first place."

In a social media post, the Leicester Conservatives said Whitford's defection showed the county council's Reform UK group was "falling apart".

On Friday, Leicestershire County Council confirmed Reform UK county councillor Andrew Thorp had quit the authority.

The authority has not said why Thorp, who represented Narborough and Whetstone, had resigned.

The party now has 23 councillors on the county council which it runs as a minority administration.