Reform council leader defends party colleague who called police ‘British hating scum’
A Reform council leader has come to the defense of a party councilor who has been criticized for social media posts about police and Black women.
In now-deleted posts on X (Twitter) before he was elected to Staffordshire County Council, councilor Peter Mason described the police as “a bunch of politically brainwashed British-hating scum”. In another post from March 2024, she wrote: “What a surprise a statue of a fat ass black woman.”
After the posts emerged, Mr Mason, who is also a highways cabinet member at the council, apologized and said he regretted the words he used. In the statement he sent IndependentHe added that the posts were written during a difficult personal time when he was affected by grief and a layoff.
But political opponents on the council called on him to resign, including Conservative group leader Philip White, who described the posts as “disgusting”.
In response, Staffordshire County Council leader Ian Cooper emailed Reform councilors to defend Mr Mason, claiming he had been subjected to “targeted political attack” since he stood for Reform.
It emerged that the memo, titled “Statement in Defense of Commander Peter Mason”, was mistakenly sent to all Staffordshire councilors before it was seen. Independent.
Mr Cooper wrote: “These personal attacks are a deliberate attempt by Reformation’s political opponents to divert attention from their own failings and to politicize the individual’s right to express their personal views.”
He continued: “Peter’s comment about the statue of a Black woman was a critique of public art, not a personal attack on an individual. His views on policing also reflect concerns shared by many, including recent reports that the Metropolitan Police is expanding its ‘woke’ workforce while facing a £250 million funding gap and cutting thousands of frontline jobs.”
Staffordshire County Council was one of 10 councils that Reform gained control of in May’s local elections. Since then officials, particularly Kent County Council, have been under the spotlight amid speculation about the national party’s chances of winning the next general election.
At Prime Minister’s Questions on Thursday, Sir Keir Starmer criticized the functioning of the City council, which has five councillors. reportedly He was expelled from the party last month after a video of leader Linden Kemkaran speaking out to colleagues was leaked.
Staffordshire Green councilor Jack Rose said: “What is happening in Staffordshire makes it clear to residents that Reform are more interested in protecting themselves than taking responsibility for their duties and serving the county.”
Mr White said: “This latest defense from the leader shows that rather than dealing with unacceptable behavior they want to sweep it under the rug and hope everyone can forget about it. Mr Mason should do the right thing and resign, not get support from his leader on this.”
The Independent’s He contacted Mr Cooper for a response. Mr Mason said he would not resign and hoped to continue in this department. “We all have the right to make mistakes, especially when dealing with personal issues in our lives,” he said.
Staffordshire County Council referred the matter to Reform UK. Independent He approached to comment.
