Suspended Lancashire Reform UK councillor back in the party after WhatsApp comments probe

Tom Pickup lost his place in the ruling group on the authority in November when leaked posts he made in a chat on the messaging platform showed him appearing to agree with the sentiment that a “majority of Brits want mass deportations”.

He also suggested Reform was keeping quiet in public about the more “hardline” approach it ultimately wanted to take on immigration.

The party said in a statement on Tuesday that County Cllr Pickup – who represents the Padiham and Burnley West division – had “apologised for his comments, which were unprofessional and inappropriate”.

“Having served a three-month suspension for his conduct, the party whip has been restored,” a Reform UK spokesperson added.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) has approached County Cllr Pickup directly for comment on his return to the group.

At the time of his suspension, he said that it was “the right thing to do”, but that he ““look[ed] forward to the facts coming out” during the party’s investigation.

County Cllr Pickup has been sitting as an independent since his suspension, meaning he also lost his previous county-wide role as lead member for finance – effectively a deputy to the cabinet member for resources, HR and property. The LDRS has sought to confirm whether he has also been reinstated to that position.

It is understood that a complaint made about him under the authority’s code of conduct procedure is still being investigated.

County Cllr Pickup’s leaked WhatsApp messages were published by the X account ‘Reform Party UK Exposed’, which claimed the posts were made in what it described as a “far-right WhatsApp group”.

In one exchange, he responded to another, unidentified member of the chat who wrote that a “majority of Brits want mass deportations and re migration [sic]”.

County Cllr Pickup said: “I agree, I think a clear and detailed policy on immigration will be rolled out quite soon, but until now as the party have been growing it’s been good to use tact to get us there, previous hardline parties have all failed by not doing this approach.”

In a separate message – it is unclear whether sent later or earlier – he wrote: “I’m a Reform councillor, 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.”

A message posted by another person in the same group – which County Cllr Pickup said at the time he did not see and would have condemned if he had – had allegedly called for a “mass Islam genocide”, according to The Guardian.

County Cllr Pickup was elected to County Hall in May as one of the 53 Reform county councillors who helped carry the party to outright control of the authority from a standing start.