Reform candidate gets conduct reminder over tweets

A parish council said it had reminded a member standing as a Reform UK local election candidate of its conduct code after offensive sexist and racist tweets on his old social media account emerged.

East Hunsbury parish councillor Ron Firman, who is standing in the West Northamptonshire Council and parish council elections, wrote the remarks between 2017 and 2018 on X, then Twitter.

They included suggesting a refugee should be thrown out of a plane and references to Grenfell victims losing "pretend relatives", as well as white supremacist group the Ku Klux Klan.

The parish council said the remarks were made in a "personal capacity", while Reform UK said it would not comment on the matter. The BBC has approached Firman for comment.

In a statement on its website, the parish council said it understood some residents had concerns over Firman's comments, which were made "not in connection with their role on the parish council".

"Councillors are expected to act independently of their political views when carrying out their duties and to uphold the principles of public service at all times," it said.

"We remain fully committed to serving the whole community of East Hunsbury fairly and without bias."

It added that it did not back any political party, and that parish councils did not have the legal power to remove or suspend councillors.

As first reported by the NN Journal, posts made by Firman - a Reform UK candidate for Hunsbury ward on 1 May - were made on an X account last updated in 2018.

In response to a news story about a refugee imprisoned for benefit fraud, he wrote that he should have been "instead given a free flight back to Somalia. Oh and when the plane is 30,000 feet over Somalia throw him out".

When adding to comments under a Sky News post in October 2017 about Grenfell fire survivors being offered permanent residency, Firman wrote "a lot of them lost so many pretend relatives".

Another X user went on to reply: "What time we meeting later lads, do I need my white sheet? Can I borrow a pitch fork?" in a reference to the Ku Klux Klan.

Firman then responded: "You forgot my burning white cross," followed by a smiling emoji with sunglasses.

Offensive remarks were also made in January 2018 on another Sky News post to X about Formula One scrapping "grid girls" from race events.

He commented: "Wonder if they would have complained if they were all fat and ugly. With boards saying "my legs are open for refugees".

Firman's X Reform UK account is now private, but he described himself in a pinned post as "just an ordinary bloke who wants the best for his constituents".

"I didn't go to university to learn politics," he wrote.

On the East Hunsbury Parish Council website, Firman told how he moved to the district on the outskirts of Northampton in 2001 to bring up his family.

He said he had "previously worked in the futures markets and the licensed trade", before becoming a London bus driver and going on to join British Rail as a train driver.

Reform UK's Northampton South branch chairman Anthony Owens directed the BBC to the party's main press office and said he "can make no further comment on this issue".

Reform UK told the BBC it would not be commenting and, when further asked if it had seen any of the tweets, replied it had nothing to add at this time.

Last year, party leader Nigel Farage told the BBC it would be vetting Reform UK hopefuls standing in May's local elections after controversial comments were made by a candidate for Bexhill and Battle during the general election.

Other candidates standing to represent the recently-created Hunsbury ward are:

Damon Boughen, Green

Bob Burnell, Labour

Glenn Butcher, Reform UK

Pinder Chauhan, Conservative

Katie Evans, Labour

Brendan Glynane, Liberal Democrats

Andre Gonzalez De Savage, Conservative

Alexander Love, Reform UK

Matthew McNicholas, Labour

Lucy Newbury, Liberal Democrats

Daniel Soan, Conservative

Carl Squires, Liberal Democrats

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