Howard Cox has resigned from Reform UK after campaigning as the party’s candidate for London mayor. (Image: Humphrey Nemar/Getty)
After leaving the party, a former British Reform official claimed that Nigel Farage was running the party like a “dictatorship” and “not allowing people to think”.
There has reportedly been a disagreement between supporters of the party and its leadership over far-right activist Tommy Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon.
Earlier this month, tech billionaire Elon Musk voiced support for the English Defense League (EDL) co-founder and called for his release.
Robinson pleaded guilty in October to contempt of court for repeatedly making false claims against Syrian refugees. Judge Johnson said at the time that his actions were not “accidental, negligent or simply reckless”.
Mr Musk and Mr Farage had previously appeared to have a good relationship, but the Reform UK leader said Mr Robinson would not be allowed to join the party as he was “not the person we need”. “He (Musk) sees Robinson as one of the people who fought against grooming gangs,” Mr Farage said in early January. But of course, the truth is, that’s not what Tommy Robinson was imprisoned for, but for contempt of court. ”
Read more: Nigel Farage furious at Keir Starmer for ‘covering up’ Southport murder
Howard Cox was Reform UK’s 2024 London mayoral candidate (Image: Getty Images)
Now, Howard Cox, the Reform UK candidate in last year’s London mayoral election and elected to Dover County Council in the general election, says his inbox is “full” of people supporting Robinson. , claimed his own “background.” It’s “irrelevant to what he’s trying to do.”
Mr Cox also claimed that a “very senior” member of his party had recently sent him a text message saying he would be expelled if he did not stop talking about Mr Robinson. As a result, he resigned, but says he still supports the party.
FairFuelUK activists said they planned to meet Robinson in prison but claimed they were not his supporters.
Mr Cox told Express.co.uk: “When the general election was over, the writing was on the wall. I saw that happening in terms of my future in the party. Zia Yusuf was chair. I met him at an early Sunday curry lunch to thank the London Reformers.Everyone was present except Nigel and it was a very nice lunch.
“I shook his hand and he had already given a pretty moving speech, so I thought, ‘Oh, this looks good.’ Well, this was the last time I spoke to him. And that was the last time anyone from Reform Headquarters spoke to me.”
Mr Cox added that it was a difficult decision to resign as a member of the party as he had given so much of his time and contribution to the party. He said, “I thought, ‘Wait a minute, what’s going on here?'” I’m 70 now and I’ve given up two years of my life. And keep in mind that FairFuelUK was the main reason I campaigned. And I suffered a little because of my activities. ”
He added that a YouGov poll earlier this month showed Reform UK was “going from strength to strength”, suggesting it was now a close race between Labor (26%) and Reform UK (25%). .
Howard Cox says he still supports reform despite stepping down (Image: SOPA Images/LightRocket, Getty Images)
But he added that the party had a “huge problem” with its position on Tommy Robinson.
“I had a few people reach out to me and my inbox was full of stuff about Tommy Robinson, and Tommy Robinson, to be honest, I didn’t know from Adam, who he was,” Cox said. I didn’t know.” I haven’t met him, I don’t support him.
“But what I support is grooming gangs, sorry, rape gangs — and I’m going to be blunt about it — to actually raise the profile of people all over the country. That’s what I’m trying to do.”
A 2014 report by Professor Alexis Jay found that at least 1,400 children were sexually exploited between 1997 and 2013 in Rotherham, one of several affected towns. It became.
Police define grooming as group-based sexual exploitation of children. There were 717 similar crimes reported to police in 2023 and 572 in the first nine months of 2024.
Group-based child sexual exploitation accounted for 17% of group-based child sex crimes and 3.7% of all child sexual abuse cases in 2023. The majority of grooming crimes reported to police were 70% in 2023 and 63% in the first nine months. Incident of 2024 – carried out by white perpetrators.
Previously unpublished statistics from all 43 forces in England and Wales show Pakistanis are up to four times more likely to be responsible for child grooming offenses reported to police compared to the general population. It was shown that
Cox continued, “And I applaud everything he did to bring this to all of our attention. I don’t know his background and I don’t know his I didn’t even know about his background.” I’ve obviously learned about his background since then, but I don’t think it’s relevant to what he’s trying to do.
“And I think he became a political prisoner. Unfortunately, that’s where the reform leadership and I part ways.”
Mr Cox continued: “Just a week and a half ago, a very senior person at Reform UK texted me and said, ‘If you keep talking about Tommy Robinson and keep supporting him, you ‘I would be at risk.”’ He was expelled. ‘And I went back to the man, and he was a very old man. And I said: “Why can’t I talk about the people who are actually protecting our children and bringing this issue to the forefront and who are actually being supported by Elon Musk?”
Howard Cox speaks after resigning from Reform UK (Image: Humphrey Nemar)
“And he said, ‘This is none of our business right now. We don’t want anything to do with him, so please stop talking about it.’
Asked whether he thought the instructions could have come from the very top, Mr Farage himself, Mr Cox said: “I can only assume it came from there. It was through,” he said.
He reiterated: “I don’t support Tommy Robinson. I support what he’s trying to do.” Mr Cox added that Mr Robinson was “jailed for contempt of court for showing a film explaining this issue to everyone”, which was “completely and completely wrong”.
When challenged by the fact that Mr. Robinson was in jail for contempt of court, Mr. Cox said, “Yes, I agree with that, but the problem is that Mr. Robinson wears an ankle brace and is not allowed in society.” I think we should serve,” he said.
“There are some deep-rooted differences,” Mr Cox said, adding that he had “taken out some very loyal people” who had driven the party. Since leaving the party, he claims to have received nearly 1,000 messages of support, but says “one in 20 are actually very offensive messages towards me”.
Mr Cox claims there is division within Reform UK over Tommy Robinson (Image: Getty)
He added: “There is now what I call a dictatorship. You can quote me on that. I believe that Reform Britain is a dictatorship and does not allow people to think. ” he continued.
Mr Cox also claimed Mr Farage “worshipped” convicted felon Donald Trump. “From my perspective, I’m not saying he’s innocent of anything in life, but on this particular issue, I fully support him.”
Asked whether Mr Robinson could be a thorn in Mr Farage’s side if he is released, Mr Cox said: I hope we can go somewhere quiet and sit down together and solve this problem. ”
In response to suggestions that Musk might join them, he added: “That’s good, yeah. He might be on a jet across the Atlantic, who knows? I don’t know where Tommy is going.” I’m not a fan of his personally, but I totally agree with what he’s trying to do. ”
As for why he plans to visit Robinson in prison, Cox said: “I want to hear both sides of the story… I’m going to ask him, ‘Why is there so much vitriol against you from reformers?’ “Would I be able to understand it completely even if I heard it from the horse’s mouth?”
Adam Thoms speaks with Howard Cox (Image: Humphrey Nemar)
“If he doesn’t convince me, I’m not going to continue this matter,” he continued.
The majority of British voters do not support Mr Robinson, and YouGov’s favorability analysis “reflects the UK’s demographics and is weighted to be representative of the people”. It has been suggested that the rate is 21%. A More in Common poll conducted this month found that half of Britons say he should not be allowed to join Reform Britain.
His approval rating was -34, according to More in Common, with just 12% of voters saying it was a bad decision not to allow Robinson to take part in Reform Britain. By comparison, 50% said it was true.
When questioned about these numbers, Cox said: “They don’t need to talk about Tommy Robinson. What they shouldn’t do is trash him. That’s my point. does not want to be part of the reform movement.”
“He doesn’t want to be part of reform in any way. He just wants recognition that he’s actually trying to fight on this particular issue. And you know what? If I were Nigel Farage, I would say: “Tommy Robinson is doing a good job and he shouldn’t be in prison, but while this has nothing to do with reform, we want him to try to bring this issue to broader public opinion. support the purpose of
A spokesperson for Reform UK said: “Nigel Farage is Britain’s most popular party leader. Reform UK is committed to winning the election and saving Britain.”
