William Eichler 20 November 2025

Reform UK councillor suspended over WhatsApp messages

Reform UK councillor suspended over WhatsApp messages image
© Sean Aidan Calderbank / Shutterstock.com.

Reform UK councillor Tom Pickup has been suspended for being part of a WhatsApp group where participants allegedly called for a ‘mass Islam genocide’.

The Lancashire County Council member reportedly admitted to being part of the right-wing group chat where one participant said Prime Minister Keir Starmer ‘needs a fucking bullet’.

Pickup told the group that he agreed with ‘mass deportations’ and according to the Guardian posted: ‘Everyone in Reform is a lot more hardline on immigration than is typically stated publicly, to get a majority government we have to be tactical.’

Nigel Farage’s party has confirmed that Pickup had been suspended on Wednesday pending an investigation.

To learn more about Reform UK, check out: Reform UK: What Britain’s fastest rising party stands for and Reform UK’s ‘Doge’ witch-hunts will achieve little.

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