Reform won’t suspend councillor who shared Hitler meme during VE Day commemorations

Published

2 months ago

May 8, 2025

admin

Reform UK is not suspending a newly elected councillor who has been criticised for sharing a now-deleted Adolf Hitler meme on social media.

Councillor Joel Tetlow is under fire after he posted a picture of the Nazi leader on Facebook, overlooking a map of Europe with an apparent reference to small boats crossing the Channel.

Politics latest: PM told to back Paddington Bear

A caption on the picture said: “Why don’t we invade them slowly? A few men at a time in small boats.”

Mr Tetlow, who was elected as county councillor for Accrington North on Lancashire County Council last week, then added: “Let’s be grateful this idea was never put to him. Or the world as we know it would be a whole lot different.”

After being approached by Sky News, Mr Tetlow deleted the post. It had been uploaded on Tuesday.

In a statement to Sky News, he said: “The boats that are coming in on a daily basis of up to 1,000 per day has been happening for the past four years or more, and are showing no signs of abating.

“We do not know who these people are, and I was likening it to an invasion. Just as in Greece they used a wooden horse to sneak into Troy during the Trojan War, disguising their soldiers inside.

“Only yesterday, eight Iranians were arrested looking to attack our country. We just want to protect our great country and the citizens within it. I feel that this post is being taken out of context.”

‘I didn’t mean any disrespect’

Mr Tetlow added: “I had removed the post because even though I know what I meant to say, I had people slating me again and didn’t want a repeat of last time.

“I have also received a call from Reform UK who has also asked me to remove it.

“I don’t mean any disrespect especially with it being around VE Day, but as I said I likened it more to the Trojan horse coming in small [boats].

“We did fight off an assault in the First and Second World War, and we owe a huge gratitude to the soldiers who fought in both of those wars.”

Farage urged to suspend councillor

Chris Webb, the Labour MP for Blackpool South, told Sky News he was “appalled but not shocked by Nigel Farage’s failure to suspend his councillor” over the “horrific and deeply offensive posts”.

“As we unite as a nation to honour the heroes who bravely fought against tyranny to safeguard our freedoms, it is utterly abhorrent for a Reform councillor to post memes about Hitler during the 80th anniversary of VE Day,” he said.

“This is a time to reflect on the values of courage, resilience, and community that define us as a nation.

“Farage must act decisively and suspend this councillor immediately to uphold the dignity of our shared history and the principles we cherish.”

Lancashire Council is one of 10 local authorities Reform now controls following last week’s local elections, in which they also won the Runcorn by-election from Labour and gained more than 650 new councillors.

Reform leader Mr Farage has used the results to declare his party is now the “official opposition” to Labour.

Over the past few months, he has promised to “professionalise” the party so it is ready to form the next government – something Mr Farage now believes is possible.

However, questions have been raised about how the party is run internally following the public row with Great Yarmouth MP Rupert Lowe, who was suspended over allegations of “verbal threats”, which he denies.

The BBC also reported a newly elected Reform councillor in Shropshire was suspended after she posted on X about her plans to defect from the party.

Sky News has approached Reform UK and Lancashire County Council for comment.

Politics

Chancellor Rachel Reeves says she is ‘totally’ up for the job of chancellor in first comments since tearful PMQs

Published

1 hour ago

July 3, 2025

admin

Chancellor Rachel Reeves says she is 'totally' up for the job of chancellor in first comments since tearful PMQs

The chancellor has said she was having a “tough day” yesterday in her first public comments since appearing tearful at Prime Minister’s Questions – but insisted she is “totally” up for the job.

Rachel Reeves told broadcasters: “Clearly I was upset yesterday and everyone could see that. It was a personal issue and I’m not going to go into the details of that.

“My job as chancellor at 12 o’clock on a Wednesday is to be at PMQs next to the prime minister, supporting the government, and that’s what I tried to do.

“I guess the thing that maybe is a bit different between my job and many of your viewers’ is that when I’m having a tough day it’s on the telly and most people don’t have to deal with that.”

Politics latest: PM sets out 10-year NHS plan

She declined to give a reason behind the tears, saying “it was a personal issue” and “it wouldn’t be right” to divulge it.

“People saw I was upset, but that was yesterday. Today’s a new day and I’m just cracking on with the job,” she added.

Ms Reeves also said she is “totally” up for the job of chancellor, saying: “This is the job that I’ve always wanted to do. I’m proud of what I’ve delivered as chancellor.”

Asked if she was surprised that Sir Keir Starmer did not back her more strongly during PMQs, she reiterated that she and the prime minister are a “team”, saying: “We fought the election together, we changed the Labour Party together so that we could be in the position to return to power, and over the past year, we’ve worked in lockstep together.”

PM: ‘I was last to appreciate’ that Reeves was crying

The chancellor’s comments come after the prime minister told Sky News’ political editor Beth Rigby that he “didn’t appreciate” that she was crying behind him at Prime Minister’s Questions yesterday because the weekly sessions are “pretty wild”, which is why he did not offer her any support while in the chamber.

He added: “It wasn’t just yesterday – no prime minister ever has had side conversations during PMQs. It does happen in other debates when there’s a bit more time, but in PMQs, it is bang, bang, bang. That’s what it was yesterday.

“And therefore, I was probably the last to appreciate anything else going on in the chamber, and that’s just a straightforward human explanation, common sense explanation.”

During PMQs, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch branded the chancellor the “human shield” for the prime minister’s “incompetence” just hours after he was forced to perform a humiliating U-turn over his controversial welfare bill, leaving a “black hole” in the public finances.

The prime minister’s watered-down Universal Credit and Personal Independent Payment Bill was backed by a majority of 75 in a tense vote on Tuesday evening – but a total of 49 Labour MPs voted against the bill, which was the largest rebellion in a prime minister’s first year in office since 47 MPs voted against Tony Blair’s lone parent benefit in 1997, according to Professor Phil Cowley from Queen Mary University.

Reeves looks transformed – but this has been a disastrous week for the PM

It is a Rachel Reeves transformed that appears in front of the cameras today, nearly 24 hours since one of the most extraordinary PMQs.

Was there a hint of nervousness as she started, aware of the world watching for any signs of human emotion? Was there a touch of feeling in her face as the crowds applauded her?

People will speculate. But Ms Reeves has got through her first public appearance, and can now, she hopes, move on.

The prime minister embraced her as he walked on stage, the health secretary talked her up: “Thanks to her leadership, we have seen wages rising faster than the cost of living.”

A show of solidarity at the top of government, a prime minister and chancellor trying to get on with business.

But be in no doubt today’s speech on a 10-year-plan for the NHS has been overshadowed. Not just by a chancellor in tears, but what that image represents.

A PM who, however assured he appeared today, has marked his first year this week, as Sky News’ political editor Beth Rigby put to him, with a “self-inflicted shambles”.

She asked: “How have you got this so wrong? How can you rebuild trust? Are you just in denial?”

They are questions Starmer will be grappling with as he tries to move past a disastrous week.

Ms Reeves has borne a lot of the criticism over the handling of the vote, with some MPs believing that her strict approach to fiscal rules has meant she has approached the ballooning welfare bill from the standpoint of trying to make savings, rather than getting people into work.

Ms Badenoch also said the chancellor looked “absolutely miserable”, and questioned whether she would remain in post until the next election.

Sir Keir did not explicitly say that she will, and Ms Badenoch interjected to say: “How awful for the chancellor that he couldn’t confirm that she would stay in place.”

Downing Street scrambled to make clear to journalists that Ms Reeves was “going nowhere”, and the prime minister has since stated publicly that she will remain as chancellor “for many years to come”.