ReutersNigel Farage has called on Conservative county councillors to defect to his Reform UK party.
In a letter obtained by the BBC, party leader Farage warns Tory councillors Reform’s “ground campaign capabilities will be formidable” by May’s local elections.
Speaking on X, Farage, who is also MP for Clacton in Essex, said he was writing to 1,352 Conservative county councillors as “a huge number of them genuinely agree with us and what we stand for”.
A Conservative party spokesman said: “Reform has delivered a Labour government. A vote for Reform this coming May is a vote for a Labour council.”
‘Councillors in talks with us’
In a letter sent to Essex Conservative county councillors, Farage says “our door is open should you consider standing for Reform UK”.
Farage told them since the general election “we’ve been assembling a national election winning machine at historic speed with hundreds of branches already established and over 90,000 active members ready to campaign”.
He has given Conservative councillors until 6 November to join and warns there will be a Reform candidate standing against them.
“Once somebody has been selected, we will not stand them down,” he wrote.
Farage said there were “other councillors in talks with us” after two Southend councillors defected from the Conservatives in September.
Conservative Kevin Bentley, leader of Essex County Council, said Farage’s letter “does smack of desperation”.
He said: “Some members have had a message from Reform and dismissed it.”
First Reform county councillor
A former Conservative councillor who was briefly a general election candidate has joined Reform UK.
Jaymey McIvor, who represents Ongar on Essex County Council, announced on X that he had joined Farage’s party.
The Conservatives said McIvor was expelled from the party on 9 October following a disciplinary hearing.
McIvor said he had already quit and that he had joined Reform UK as it “puts people and country first”.
He accused the Conservative Party of being “too weak to deal with its handful of toxic individuals” and they “tried to punish my ambition and vision”.
He said: “Reform has won the trust of the next generation. We are the future, we want our country back on track, rescuing it from the unpatriotic minority and put the patriotic majority back in the driver’s seat.”
McIvor was selected to stand for the Conservatives in Hemel Hempstead in the general election. But hours from the deadline for nominations to be submitted he was dropped and suspended by the party pending an investigation.
A Conservative spokesperson said: “Mr McIvor was suspended by the party and removed from the candidates list in June.
“After a disciplinary hearing, he was expelled from the Conservative Party on 9 October.”
McIvor says he will “continue to serve my residents” as a Reform UK councillor on both Essex County Council and Epping Forest District Council.
Elections for Essex County Council are due to be held in May 2025.
Earlier this year, McIvor posted on X: “For every person that joins Reform UK , they become another campaigner for a Labour government, which would achieve the polar opposite to what they want to see changed.”
A spokesperson for Reform UK said: “We believe James McIvor has been the victim of vicious Tory infighting.
“We look forward to announcing many more councillors joining us in Essex from the Tory sinking ship.”
