Donna Edmunds, a councillor for Shropshire who was suspended from Reform UK, has launched an attack on Nigel Farage, calling him a ‘terrible leader’ who ‘stabs people in the back’
A Reform UK councillor has quit the party after it suspended her just days after the local elections.
Donna Edmunds, a councillor for Shropshire, was suspended from the party after suggesting she might ditch it on social media. She has since launched an attack on Nigel Farage, calling him a “terrible leader” who “stabs people in the back”.
Reform UK swept to victory at last week’s local elections but the party continues to face teething problems. Questions over their professionalism will again be raised amid the row with one of its councillors so soon after the elections.
In an incendiary post on Twitter /X after her suspension, Ms Edmunds attacked Mr Farage and said his head office had brought Reform UK into “disrepute”. She said the leadership had “unceremoniously ditched” MP Rupert Lowe. The MP was suspended over allegations of “verbal threats” earlier this year.
READ MORE: Nigel Farage accused of ‘sucking up to Moscow’ with Reform’s new flags pledge
On Sunday, Ms Edmunds, who has previously called for a statue of Tommy Robinson “in every town square”, wrote: “Yesterday I woke up feeling very proud to be one of Reform’s 677 new councillors. This morning I woke up to an email from Reform Head Office advising me that I have been suspended from the party “pending an investigation.
“Why? Because I urged people here on X to lend Reform their support for the short term – for Thursday’s elections – even if they felt they couldn’t for the long term. According to Head Office, “This has brought the party into disrepute and damaged the interests of the party.
“Let’s be clear here, it is not me who has brought the party into disrepute. The party leadership did that when they unceremoniously ditched (former co-leader) Ben Habib, and again when they suspended Rupert Lowe.”
Mr Lowe has been in a fierce row with Reform UK following his suspension. Last month, in the latest development, he said he is suing Mr Farage over the affair. His suspension came in the wake of an interview in which he criticised Mr Farage, and also followed Mr Lowe having defended far-right thug Tommy Robinson.
At the height of tensions between Mr Lowe and Mr Farage, Ms Edmunds defended Robinson on social media. Responding to a post that claimed Robinson was in prison “for speaking truth about the problems his government refused to solve”, she said: “Not only did the Government refuse to solve [the problems], they gave cover to the perpetrators. In decades to come there will be a statue of Tommy Robinson in every town square in Britain.”
She echoed calls from Elon Musk, Donald Trump’s right-hand man and a Robinson supporter, to replace Mr Farage as leader, saying: “It’s no coincidence that ‘without Farage, Reform can’t survive’… Farage has engineered it that way, just as he did with Ukip.
“Tommy Robinson isn’t the only person he’s thrown under a bus – he does it to everyone who looks like they might be a viable leader, to keep his party running as the Farage show.”
Since her suspension, Ms Edmunds has ramped up her criticism of Mr Farage. In one post on X/Twitter yesterday, she said: “Farage must never be Prime Minister for one reason only: he’s a terrible leader. A good leader knows that you bring your team with you, that you champion their successes as the team’s successes. A bad leader claims personal credit for every win and stabs people in the back.”
A Reform UK spokesman said: “The reason for her suspension is that she posted on social media that she intended to defect to another party.“
READ MORE: Join our Mirror politics WhatsApp group to get the latest updates from Westminster
