THE former chairman of Reform’s Havering branch says the borough will continue to suffer if the party controls the council reports the Local Democracy Reporter.
Philip Hyde, who is now a member of Rupert Lowe’s Restore, says a Reform council will “continue to ignore deplorable health outcomes” and “growing social and economic problems”.
Havering has been financially crippled by exorbitant social care and housing costs, while the borough is also grappling with rising obesity rates and a ballooning young population.
The borough has become one of Reform’s biggest targets in London, it is understood. Leader Nigel Farage said the council would “attempt not to borrow” more money – shortly before the HRA-led council announced it needed a loan of £77million – but things would not change overnight.
Hyde unsuccessfully stood in Romford for Reform in the 2024 election, coming third with 9,624 votes.
He has since been deselected as chairman in favour of London Assembly member and local councillor Keith Prince, the once leader of Redbridge Council who defected from the Conservatives in October last year.
Havering has seen several high profile defections since, with former Tory MP for Romford Andrew Rosindell crossing the floor last month. Two Tory councillors also defected last week, alongside six electoral candidates.
The party says it sacked Hyde following reports of verbal abuse, which he has pushed back on.
A party spokesperson said: “Reform has a zero-tolerance approach towards abusive behaviour.
“Following a number of incidents in which Mr Hyde was witnessed being verbally abusive towards several members of the party, volunteers, and staff, he was removed from his position as branch chairman and is no longer a member of Reform UK.”
But in a statement to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), Hyde said Reform would “say whatever is necessary” to justify their actions and had “concocted” a way for local leadership to change.
He said that, before Rosindell defected, senior management in the party had told him Havering had “the best, most professional branch of Reform in London”.
“Under my guidance, the team of professional, non-political people I had put together offered a real chance for Havering to thrive,” he added.
He said he wanted to “throw off the shackles of decades of Tory incompetence”.
In a post on social media, the former chairman said he had been contacted by senior members of Reform across the country who said members ranging from chairmen to candidates were “being removed to put former Conservatives in place”.
Rosindell was elected as a Conservative MP in 2001. He has long campaigned for Havering to leave London and rejoin Essex, undoing the Local Government Act, and has promised a referendum on the issue under a Reform government in Westminster.
He told the LDRS he had known Farage for 25 years and he had “always agreed with his political views,” having led the Vote Leave Brexit campaign in Havering and “always opposing the woke agenda and attack on our cultural heritage”.
He described himself as “Reform-minded before Reform was ever created”.
As the only Reform MP in the borough, he said he will be leading a campaign of 23 candidates to an election victory focused on “restoring local pride in Romford,” working “on the side of local people and businesses,” and “resisting [Mayor of London] Sadiq Khan’s attempts to turn it into London”.
Rosindell will not be a member of the council nor its leader but will help lobby government, he said.
The Havering Conservatives – the official council opposition – have attacked Reform for “throwing out” its own candidates “in favour of defectors”.
A spokesperson said: “Whilst we are moving on from the past and rebuilding, Nigel Farage and Reform are busy building a party resembling the Conservative Party of yesterday.
“Four of the six Romford candidates who defected were already on our deselection watchlist for insufficient work.
“Havering Reform cannot think much of their own candidates if they are willing to throw them out in favour of defectors. It shows that there is no democracy in Reform.”
A Reform spokesperson responded: “These are hilariously desperate comments from the Havering Conservatives, who are obviously petrified of being totally wiped out not just in Havering and London, but across the UK in May.”
