At least five Reform UK councillors have been identified as members of a closed Facebook group connected to Patriot Platform, a far-right vigilante organisation whose masked activists have staged high-profile blockades in Dover and Portsmouth. The discovery, made by anti-fascist campaigners, raises urgent questions about the extent to which elected representatives of Nigel Farage’s party have engaged with groups that have been publicly condemned by its own leadership.
The revelations come at a delicate moment for Reform UK, which has sought to position itself as a mainstream political force while navigating deep internal tensions over its relationship with far-right networks.
Councillors Identified in Closed Online Group
Investigators from Hope Not Hate traced four councillors through the Northeast Patriots Facebook group, a private page whose membership list was not visible to the public. They were identified via their social media handles, which appeared in a welcome message sent to new members — a detail that would have been impossible had the councillors not been active participants in the group.
The five individuals named are two councillors from Solihull in the West Midlands, two from Gateshead in the North East, and one from Kent. Two of them stepped down from the group after being contacted by the Guardian, while a fifth confirmed he had also departed. Their names have not been published.
The group itself actively promotes Patriot Platform on its front page, directing visitors to the vigilante organisation’s website. Patriot Platform was established by Daniel Thomas, a long-standing associate of the far-right figure Tommy Robinson, and has been involved in several confrontations with police, leading to multiple arrests.
A Party Divided
The findings expose a significant rift within Reform UK’s ranks. While Nigel Farage himself has described Patriot Platform’s activities as “disgusting”, “wrong” and “horrible”, a number of elected representatives under his banner have maintained ties to groups affiliated with the movement.
The Northeast Patriots group was created by Mark Thorn, a Reform UK activist who describes himself on Facebook as the party’s representative for the Gateshead Central and Whickham constituency. At least fourteen other Reform councillors were reportedly invited to join the group, suggesting the outreach was not incidental but deliberate.
Gregory Davis, a senior researcher at Hope Not Hate, said the connections uncovered were deeply concerning. “Patriot Platform is a far-right vigilante group who has now been involved in several clashes with police, resulting in multiple arrests and more expected to come,” he said. “The link we have uncovered is very worrying.”
There is visible unease among some Reform members and councillors about how Farage’s criticism of Patriot Platform has been received within the party. The leadership’s public repudiation has not been matched by a consistent effort to sever ties at the local level.
Responses from Those Involved
One of the identified councillors, James Wright of Gateshead, said he had joined the group for monitoring purposes rather than out of ideological sympathy. “I joined the Northeast Patriots Facebook group in the same way I follow and monitor a wide range of local groups, community pages and political discussions,” he said. He added: “Membership of a social media group should not be taken as endorsement of every view expressed by other members, administrators or organisations referenced within it. I do not endorse any unlawful activity, disorder, intimidation or violence. My focus as a councillor is on representing residents and understanding issues that are being discussed locally.”
Reform’s home affairs spokesperson, Zia Yusuf, also features prominently in this ongoing controversy. He met with Daniel Thomas in Portsmouth last week, on the day after Patriot Platform activists clashed with officers during far-right unrest in the city. Yusuf later suggested that Thomas, who has a criminal conviction, had made his points “respectfully” and publicly challenged Conservative leader Kemi Badenholm’s condemnation of the group, saying on social media: “How dare you call them ‘thugs’.”
That exchange has done little to quell concerns that elements within Reform UK are unwilling to draw a firm line against far-right activity.
The Broader Picture
The discovery of elected representatives belonging to online spaces linked to masked agitators represents a significant political liability for Reform UK at a time when the party is vying for credibility on the national stage. Farage has repeatedly distanced himself from Patriot Platform, but the proximity of his councillors to the group — and the willingness of some to invite colleagues into it — complicates that narrative considerably.
The Patriot Platform organisation itself has grown in visibility in recent months. Its members, often wearing balaclavas, have staged road blockades that have drawn widespread condemnation from politicians across the spectrum. Yet the group continues to attract attention from figures within Reform UK’s local activist network, raising the question of whether the party’s grassroots are following a different playbook from its leadership.
Why it Matters
The discovery of Reform UK councillors belonging to a Facebook group linked to a far-right vigilante organisation is not merely a story about social media membership — it is a story about the boundaries of political respectability and the challenges of policing ties at the local level when leadership messaging at the top is at odds with grassroots activity. For a party that ambitions to govern, the ability to demonstrate a clean break from groups implicated in public disorder and intimidation is essential. Voters across the country will be watching closely to see whether Reform UK can reconcile the contradictory signals coming from its own ranks, or whether these associations will continue to undermine its claims to mainstream legitimacy.