Newly elected Reform councillor resigns after social media claims

 

Newly elected Reform councillor resigns after social media claims

 

Stuart Prior quits as scrutiny grows of new councillors accused of racist, antisemitic or anti-Muslim remarks

 

Aamna Mohdin Community affairs correspondent

Mon 11 May 2026 18.23 BST

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/may/11/newly-elected-reform-councillor-resigns-stuart-prior-social-media

 

A Reform UK councillor has resigned days after being elected, after he allegedly celebrated on social media the rape of a Sikh woman in the Midlands, declared white people the “master race” and called Muslim people “rats”.

 

Stuart Prior was elected as a councillor for Essex county council last Thursday, winning 2,404 votes, the highest total of any candidate in the ward.

 

Prior was one of 53 Reform councillors elected to the authority, giving the party overall control of the council. He also won a seat on Rochford district council.

 

A Reform spokesperson confirmed Prior had resigned his positions for personal reasons and that his party membership had been revoked.

 

The resignation comes amid growing scrutiny of newly elected Reform councillors accused of making racist, antisemitic or anti-Muslim remarks.

 

The allegations include claims they described the Holocaust as a hoax, praised the Nazis as “real visionaries”, referred to Muslims as “dirt” and urged protesters to get rid of a “filthy” mosque during the 2024 summer race riots.

 

The Muslim Council of Britain has warned of the dangers of racist and dehumanising rhetoric about Muslims, Jews and immigrants becoming increasingly normalised in British politics.

 

The posts were identified in a dossier compiled by the anti-extremism group Hope not Hate. The controversy has unfolded alongside separate criticism of several newly elected Green representatives over alleged antisemitic comments.

 

Prior has been criticised for the remarks he has allegedly made on social media. In posts on X in November 2025, he allegedly described white people as “the master race” and suggested that white people had “larger brains”.

 

In other posts, Prior allegedly said “Muslims are dirt”, allegedly wrote that “Muslims are awful, globally” and allegedly declared: “There cannot be a genocide against Muslims. It’s only ever self-defence against those rats.”

 

Prior responded to the Mirror: “That’s not what I would have put down” and “this isn’t me” when confronted with the messages.

 

Prior is also alleged to have said black people should be “segregated”, and asked why “black folk bitch about” the slave trade. On 27 October 2025, he allegedly wrote, “good.reap it” in response to a post by the MP Zarah Sultana about a Sikh woman being raped.

 

The Guardian has attempted to contact Prior. He has previously denied making the comments or being racist.

 

Hope not Hate also highlighted the case of Derek Bullock, who was elected as a Reform councillor in Bolton last week. Bullock was a Tory candidate for the council in 2023 when images emerged of a post sent at the time of the 2017 Manchester Arena terrorist attack in which he allegedly used a racial slur to call for people of Pakistani heritage to be shot.

 

The Conservatives disowned his candidacy and Bullock won as an independent before standing for Reform in 2026.

 

Bullock has previously said the image was fake, and a Reform spokesperson said he had reported the resurfaced material to the police.

 

Hope not Hate allege Bullock also spoke of wanting to encourage Muslims to join Islamic State to “help re-balance England’s population & make-up”. The Guardian has approached Bullock and Reform for further comment.

 

Jay Leslie Cooper was elected for Reform in the Bootle West ward of Sefton council. The Liverpool Echo reported that he had allegedly written on Facebook last year: “I don’t agree with him [Adolf Hitler] murdering innocent people. But the Hallocaust [sic] is a hoax. There wasn’t [sic] even 6 million Jews in Europe at the time. Propaganda.”

 

The Guardian has approached Cooper for comment. A spokesperson for Reform UK said he has resigned the party whip and has had his membership revoked.

 

Nathaniel Menday was elected as a Reform councillor in Sheffield. According to Hope not Hate, he has allegedly described himself as an ethno-nationalist, encouraged the use of white supremacist symbols and blamed Jews for antisemitism because they “overwhelmingly favour open borders”.

 

He allegedly shared a picture of Berlin’s Nazi-era Olympiastadion in January 2024 and wrote: “Whichever group of people built this must have been real visionaries!” The stadium was built to host the 1936 Olympics and was co-designed by Albert Speer, the munitions minister convicted at the Nuremberg trials of crimes against humanity.

 

The Guardian has approached Menday and Reform for comment.

 

Ben Rowe was elected for Reform on to Plymouth city council. According to Hope not Hate, he allegedly urged protesters throwing bricks at police defending a mosque to “get rid of that filthy building” during the 2024 Southport riots.

 

In a comment beneath a YouTube video in February, Rowe also allegedly accused “the Jews” of “creating division by forcing other races on our societies” and described immigrants to the UK “breeding like rats”, according to The Times.

 

The Guardian has approached Rowe for comment. A spokesperson for Reform UK said Rowe has been suspended from the party pending investigation.

 

The secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, Dr Wajid Akhtar, said such statements would normally disqualify someone from even running a school bake sale.

 

“We call on such candidates to be disqualified, but more importantly, urgent accountability for the rhetoric and policies about Muslims and immigrants in our political parties and public discourse.”

 

Several newly elected Green representatives have also faced criticism over alleged antisemitic comments. Saiqa Ali, a councillor in Lambeth council’s Streatham St Leonard’s ward, was arrested on suspicion of stirring up racial hatred online.

 

Mohammed Suleman, who was elected in Arthur’s Hill ward in Newcastle, was suspended over media reports he allegedly shared antisemitic content on social media. Suleman said his suspension, which he is appealing against, was not about sharing antisemitic content, but could not comment further.

 

Mark Adderley, who was elected in Crystal Palace and Upper Norwood ward in Croydon, has also been suspended over reports he allegedly shared antisemitic content on social media.

 

He said in a statement: “My suspension is a no-fault suspension and is an internal matter within the Green party that will soon be resolved. I have not been found guilty of antisemitism.”

 

A Green party spokesperson said: “All three of these candidates were suspended from the Green party at the time of the election so will not be able to sit as Green party councillors. They will sit as independents.”