A member of Reform UK serving on Kirklees Council in West Yorkshire has been temporarily removed from the party due to an old social media message that seemed to advocate hanging the Speaker of the House of Commons.
Earlier this year, Mr Rowan secured the Colne Valley West seat in May’s local elections, defeating the Labour candidate to become a Reform UK representative. However, within just three months of taking office, the party has suspended him.
The anti-extremism organisation HOPE not hate uncovered what appears to be his social media profile, which contained a 2019 post referencing former Commons Speaker John Bercow. The post appeared to call for the hanging of the former Speaker.
A Reform UK representative told the Telegraph & Argus that Mr Rowan had been suspended from the party while inquiries take place.
Despite losing his party affiliation, he continues to serve as a councillor for Kirklees.
HOPE not hate said that while the suspension followed their investigation, the real issue is that such individuals should never have been permitted to run for office in the first place. The organisation expressed concern that despite Reform UK’s claims about having the most rigorous candidate screening process in British politics, this appears to be an ongoing pattern rather than isolated incidents.
The monitoring group suggested that failures in vetting procedures have allowed problematic candidates to slip through repeatedly. When the Telegraph & Argus reviewed his account on the X platform, it remained operational with several of the flagged posts still visible as of mid-August. This case is part of a broader trend of newly elected Reform UK councillors facing scrutiny over historical social media activity since the local elections.