Reform UK councillor criticises party over Tory ‘rejects’

A former Conservative who joined Reform UK has said the party has allowed too many Tory ‘rejects’ in.

In a now deleted social media post, Jim O’Neill, who leads the Reform group on Blackpool Council, said the party “may be morphing into something I didn’t sign up for”.

O’Neill, who joined Reform after former leader Richard Tice took over in 2021, said the party was “starting to feel like the Tories 2.0… but only excepting their rejects”.

A number of high profile former Conservative MPs including Nadine Dorries, Dame Andrea Jenkins and former Rossendale and Darwen MP Sir Jake Berry have defected to Reform in recent months.

O’Neill, who represents the Marton ward, said he was not against other Tories joining.

He added: “I’m not against anybody with any political background joining Reform UK. There are some fantastic Conservative MPs and former Conservative MPs who could be, let’s say, ideologically aligned with Reform.”

O’Neill said the social media post was “born of frustration”, and had decided to take it down because the party conference was underway and he did not want it to look as though he was “attention seeking”.

But he said he stood by what he said.

“If you’re not prepared to question what’s going on then you’re probably not the right person to be fulfilling any kind of political office, because you do need to question these things.”

O’Neill refused to say whether he was planning to leave the party, adding: “I want to see what other announcements come out.”

Reform UK has been approached for comment.