Reform UK-led council serving ‘plate of chaos' as deputy leader leaves role
Mr Boam, who is councillor for Whitwick in North West Leicestershire, said in a statement on social media: 'Despite the recent news, nothing's changed, I'll keep fighting for Whitwick at County Hall and doing everything I can to help get a Reform UK government and Nigel Farage as our next prime minister.'
It is currently unclear why Mr Boam no longer holds the two positions in the council.
The leader of the main opposition to the authority, Ms Taylor, said in a statement released on social media that the Reform-led council is delivering a 'shambles'.
She said: 'The Reform Administration at Leicestershire County Council has lacked leadership and direction from the very start.
'So it comes as no surprise to us that Cllr Joseph Boam has been shown the door after just three months as Deputy Leader of Leicestershire County Council and Cabinet Lead Member for Adults.
'Frankly, he was wholly unqualified for such a critical role and lacked the experience or judgment to bring anything of value to the position.
'Adult Social Care and Communities is one of the most important and challenging portfolios in local government.
'It requires steady hands, long-term commitment and a depth of understanding.
'What it has been given instead is instability, poor judgment, and revolving-door appointments.
'At a time when Leicestershire needs stability, vision, and experienced leadership more than ever, residents are being served a plate of chaos.
'Reform promised change, what they're delivering is a shambles.'
A Reform UK source said: 'Joseph deserves thanks for his role in helping to establish the Reform Group at Leicestershire County Council and we wish him well as he moves into a new role where he will continue to support the group's efforts at County Hall.'
Ms Taylor said in a video posted on social media on Monday that the leader of the Reform-led county council, Dan Harrison, had 'sacked' Mr Boam over the weekend.
Reform won 25 out of the 55 seats on the council and formed a minority administration after the local elections in May, taking control from the Conservatives.
Mr Boam was not the youngest Reform councillor with a senior county council position, as 19-year-old George Finch is currently the leader of Warwickshire County Council.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Spectator
3 hours ago
- Spectator
Portrait of the week: Ukraine talks, inflation rises and a new house for the Prince and Princess of Wales
Home Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, joined President Volodymyr Zelensky and the leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Finland, the EU and Nato in a visit to Washington three days after the Trump-Putin summit in Alaska. On his return he chaired a virtual meeting of a 'coalition of the willing' to discuss security guarantees for Ukraine. Asylum seekers were to be removed from the Bell Hotel, Epping, Essex, after the High Court granted an injunction sought by Epping Forest district council against their being housed there. The ten councils controlled by Reform would try to emulate Epping. The number of migrants arriving in England in small boats in the seven days to 18 August was 968. Ricky Jones, 58, a councillor suspended by the Labour party, who, speaking to a crowd in Walthamstow last year, said of 'disgusting Nazi fascists' that 'We need to cut all their throats and get rid of them all', was found not guilty of encouraging violent disorder by a jury. Hashem Abedi, who was jailed for a minimum of 55 years in 2020 for helping to plan the Manchester Arena bombing in 2017, was charged with attempting to murder three prison officers at Frankland prison. The pressure group For Women Scotland lodged an action at the Court of Session, claiming rules on transgender pupils in schools and transgender people in custody are 'in clear breach' of a Supreme Court judgment in April. A Labour MP, Afzal Khan, resigned as Britain's trade envoy to Turkey after a visit to the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. Terence Stamp, the glamorous 1960s film star, died aged 87. Inflation rose from 3.6 to 3.8 per cent. Gilt yields, reflecting the cost of government borrowing, rose above the peak reached during Liz Truss's financial difficulties. GDP rose by 0.3 per cent in the second quarter, compared with 0.7 per cent in the first. The average two-year mortgage rate fell below 5 per cent for the first time since September 2022. Britain's largest bioethanol plant, in Hull, began closing down, following the removal in May of a 19 per cent tariff on ethanol imported from America. Britain's biggest power generator, German company RWE, blamed weak winds for a £1.8 billion fall in profits. The chain of 46 Soho House clubs was bought for £2 billion. The Met Police will axe 40 of its 93 horses to save money. No horses will run at race meetings on 10 September in protest at a proposed rise in betting tax. A-level grades were again the highest ever, with 28.3 per cent being A* or A. The Prince and Princess of Wales will move from Adelaide Cottage into the eight-bedroom Forest Lodge in Windsor Great Park. Abroad President Donald Trump of the United States and President Vladimir Putin of Russia met for three hours in Alaska without reaching an agreement on the war in Ukraine. Mr Putin had been greeted with a red carpet and a lift in the American presidential car. At the end of their meeting, Mr Putin said in English: 'Next time in Moscow.' Mr Trump had promised 'severe consequences' if Russia did not move towards a ceasefire, but after the meeting he said that the 'best way' was to go 'directly to a peace agreement'. He said that Ukraine could not reclaim Crimea or join Nato. But he added that Mr Putin had agreed that Russia would accept security guarantees for Ukraine; no American troops would set foot in Ukraine. At the Washington follow-up meeting, Mr Zelensky said that he and Mr Trump had had a 'very good conversation'. The plan was for a trilateral meeting, then for a bilateral one between Mr Putin and Mr Zelensky. Territory remained an unsolved problem. Four people in New York City died from Legionnaires' disease, which was traced to 12 cooling towers where bacteria were growing. Hundreds of thousands of people gathered in Israel to call for an end to the Gaza war and an agreement to secure the release of the hostages held by Hamas. Tulsi Gabbard, the director of US national intelligence, said Britain had withdrawn its demand for access to global Apple users' data. Two boats carrying 90 migrants capsized off Lampedusa; 60 were rescued. Hundreds were killed by floods in northern Pakistan. Aid agencies warned of starvation in Burma's Rakhine State, which is under a military blockade. The communist mayor of Noisy-le-Sec in France said he had cancelled a screening of Barbie to protect town hall officials from 'insistent threats' from young Muslim men who accused the film of 'promoting homosexuality'. CSH
Spectator
3 hours ago
- Spectator
Letters: Village cricket is the highest form of the sport
Fighting dirty Sir: John Power is very interesting ('Dark matter', 16 August) when outlining the 'dark arts' being proposed by Labour to counter the political threat of Nigel Farage and Reform. This is nothing new of course, with one of the most divisive examples being during the Batley and Spen by-election in 2021, when Keir Starmer's future was on the line if Labour had lost. During the campaign, a controversial Labour leaflet, clearly designed to appeal to Muslim voters, made a number of criticisms against the then prime minister, Boris Johnson, including a picture of him shaking hands with the Indian prime minister Narendra Modi, with the words: 'Don't risk a Tory MP who is not on your side.' Four years later and we see a picture of a smiling Starmer shaking hands with Modi to celebrate the long-awaited trade deal between the two countries. Political hypocrisy at its worst. Since Starmer has become its leader, Labour run an almighty risk if they go down this route of vilifying opponents as a main thrust of their political campaigning. Michael Dixon Sunderland, Tyne and Wear Trouble in store Sir: History does not seem to support Matthew Parris's assertion that most wars end in messy compromises, particularly when they are the consequence of an invasion (16 August). More often than not, either one side is beaten and has to accept defeat or a peace treaty which involves little or no territorial gain – or both sides are exhausted after fighting each other to a standstill and there is little or no change to the status quo. This has been the case from ancient times, for example when Croesus of Lydia invaded Persia or when the Persian kings Darius and Xerxes invaded Greece, right through to the modern day. A messy compromise with Vladimir Putin's Russia, even were it achievable, would constitute a defeat for Ukraine and would only be storing up further trouble for the future. Tim Brown Oxford Scot free Sir: Charles Moore is correct about Nicola Sturgeon (Notes, 16 August). For her to say she can't 'breathe freely in Scotland' is beyond hypocrisy. She, more than anyone in the past two decades, is responsible for the downturn in the mood of her country and the stifling of debate not aligned to the SNP. She engineered divisions in Scotland which may take decades to heal. Moving to London to breathe more freely is an opportunity not available to most Scots. John Roberts Glasgow Flicker of possibility Sir: In your leading article (16 August) you say: 'Will the last twentysomething to leave Britain please turn out the lights?' With our curious energy policies, struggling national grid and ever-increasing amounts of energy required for new AI data centres, those last twentysomethings may, of course, find that the lights have gone off already. Andrew Haynes London SW6 Bad harvest Sir: I feel that Craig Raine rather missed the point in his remarks about the painting of 'The Angelus' (Arts, 16 August). It may not be numbered among great paintings, but it is a significant painting, and even genuinely iconic. At one time a copy of Millet's picture hung in almost every peasant home in France – and Ireland – where agricultural workers paused when the Angelus bell rang. 'People recognised themselves in the dignity the painting conferred on them,' wrote Patrick Joyce in his fine history Remembering Peasants. He considers it 'magnificent' because of what it tells us about social history, and what it meant. It has also been suggested that the man and woman praying are mourning, and that the basket of potatoes at their feet was painted over what may have been a representation of an infant's coffin. If this is so, it is even more meaningful. Mary Kenny Deal, Kent A heavenly ride Sir: Richard Bratby in 'Ticket to Ride' (Arts, 16 August) reminds me of a further aspect of train travel in the 1950s and 1960s. My father and I were keen foxhunters accustomed to crossing some of the better 'countries' together, through which our London-bound train travelled. We took care to sit by the window nearest the side of the track so that we could imagine ourselves keeping pace while mounted on our excellent hunters (or in my case, a pony). Of course we negotiated every obstacle placed in our path with no difficulty as I recited William Allingham's 'Faster than fairies, faster than witches…' and imagined myself in very heaven. Marian Waters Pebworth, Worcestershire The soul of cricket Sir: With reference to Henry Blofeld's Cricket Notebook (9 August) and Tom Stubbs's letter (16 August), I venture to suggest that the highest, most evocative and essential form of the game is not, in fact, Test cricket, but that played by rural communities on the village green at weekends. There the game has endured for ages past, and there the soul of cricket still resides, in white-clad figures on a sunlit green and in the lengthening shadows and happy banter of a summer evening idyll. Derrick Gillingham London SW1 Leg count Sir: Charles Moore (Notes, 9 August) tells of his family's game for car journeys, counting legs in pub names. I've just passed The Eel's Foot Inn near Theberton, Suffolk. How would this be scored? William Pecover London W6
Spectator
3 hours ago
- Spectator
Nigel Farage is banking on a political sea change
Nigel Farage is adept at riding the currents of British politics. When he named Reform after the Canadian party in 2020, it was a statement of intent. Like Preston Manning in the 1990s, he aimed to displace this country's main centre-right party and refashion it in his image. But where Manning fell short, handing over the reins to Stephen Harper, Farage aims to go one better by becoming prime minister himself. A keen angler, Farage has spent his few moments of downtime this summer fishing. On one such trip, he took an assembled group of journalists to the English Channel to highlight the small boat crossings. Amid rising discontent, with protests outside asylum seeker hotels, Farage has netted a tidy haul of Tory defectors, including the Welsh MS Laura Ann Jones and London councillor Laila Cunningham. More are expected shortly. As well as new faces joining Reform, there are old ones too. Jack Duffin, a longtime loyalist, is the party's new director of campaigns. In a fortnight's time, Reform will head to Birmingham for its annual conference. 'The next step' is this year's slogan. Aside from the usual pyrotechnics, the event aims to show how much the party has grown in the past year. Reform are trying to form their own quasi–shadow cabinet, with key figures focusing on specific areas. Andrea Jenkyns and Lee Anderson will speak on a broader mix of themes and topics than last year. The party's long-awaited deportation strategy is expected to be unveiled next week. The party is currently bolstering its policy team but will adopt an à la carte approach to ideas taken from elsewhere. The influential Prosperity Institute, formerly Legatum, has extensive cross-party contacts and is credited by Farage with 'bringing fresh, young talent into current affairs'. The Cambridge academic James Orr, who helped to organise J.D. Vance's Cotswolds trip, sits on its advisory board alongside Lord Ridley and recently attended a Reform press conference. What Orr calls the 'politics of national preference' fits well with Farage's embrace of steel subsidies and water renationalisation. A handful of newer thinktanks are well placed to flourish, too. Some are run by onetime Farage allies. There is Fix Britain, led by Matthew Patten, a former Brexit party MEP, and the Centre for Migration Control, set up by former aide Rob Bates. The Centre for a Better Britain launches next month under the direction of Jonathan Brown, the party's previous COO. With Reform boasting a ten-point average polling lead, senior aides believe it's time for influential figures to start nailing their colours to the mast. 'The revolution will be kind to those that came early,' says one. 'But the clock is ticking for people to make up their minds.' Farage's 'Broken Britain' thesis fits well with the shifting tides on the broader right. Leading Tories such as Robert Jenrick and Nick Timothy are among those discovering a renewed interest in the writings of Charles de Gaulle and Roger Scruton, who dwelt on the theme of institutions that become corrupted or infiltrated. Conservative MPs increasingly express similar sentiments when they talk of the courts and the Church. 'To save the village we have to burn it,' says one MP of the post-Blair settlement. Kemi Badenoch has handed policy renewal to Neil O'Brien, a staunch critic of the ECHR. His journey from a sunnier form of Cameroon-style conservatism is seen by some colleagues as emblematic of many Tories' direction of travel. Incrementalism is out; radicalism is in. New groups which reflect the mounting public frustration at Britain's direction have formed to offer fresh ways to channel these objections. Toby Young's Free Speech Union has seen its membership jump from 14,000 to 32,000 in a year under Keir Starmer's government. 'Looking for Growth', founded by Dr Lawrence Newport, is trying to create a cross-party consensus to foster pro-growth policies. It has 19 chapters, and that is set to double to 39. At one meeting in Bristol, an attendee told the room: 'I am 25 years old. All I have ever known is decline.' Such comments reflect a broader sense of pessimism among the young. Ipsos polling suggests that Gen Z seem to be starting from a lower base of trust in their peers and institutions than previous generations. The government, meanwhile, is trying to ride out the storm. At the Design Museum last month, Pat McFadden, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, told digital innovators to 'forget chainsaws and wrecking balls, that's not what we are about'. He preferred to flag up 'the turnaround of the passport service' as a 'great example' of 'when the state has done really well'. Rather than kicking down the barn, Labour believes it can build on what is already there by modernising Whitehall. Plans will be set out this autumn to expand existing civil service access schemes for those joining from working–class backgrounds. In recent weeks, Labour has stepped up its attacks on Farage – a sign, Reform insiders say – of increasing desperation. Ministers have reportedly been authorised to accuse him of being on the side of sex offenders like Jimmy Savile in opposing the Online Safety Act, while backbenchers are encouraged to direct their fire at him in parliament. Following an article in The Spectator last week about 'Labour's 'dark arts' strategy', lawyers for George Cottrell, a longtime unpaid adviser to Farage, have written to Morgan McSweeney, Starmer's chief of staff, and the Labour party to demand an explanation. Cottrell believes he is the victim of 'defamation at industrial scale'. After the article was published, a Substack dedicated to attacking Cottrell disappeared, along with its associated X account. A subject access request has been filed to Labour, requesting any data the party has on Cottrell. Downing Street sources categorically deny the existence of any new 'attack team' in No. 10 with the remit of challenging Reform. The going is sure to get tougher for Reform but Farage is prepared. It was Jim Callaghan who said: 'Perhaps once every 30 years, there is a sea change in politics. It then does not matter what you say or do. There is a shift in what the public wants and what it approves of.' Much of the right is betting on such a sea change in 2029, with Farage – for now – most likely to be the captain at the helm.
