Reform suspend councillor over social media posts

A newly elected Reform UK councillor has been suspended pending an investigation into social media posts "which have brought the party into disrepute".

Nathaniel Menday was elected to represent the Woodhouse ward on Sheffield City Council in last week's local elections.

According to reports, Menday is said to have shared photos on X of a Nazi flag with a swastika on it and an image of Hitler's Mein Kampf, as well as suggesting the UK has a "subhuman underclass".

A spokesperson for Reform said Menday had been suspended after he "failed to declare the posts", adding: "Reform UK does not support such comments." The BBC has approached Menday for comment.

Menday received 1,987 votes beating Labour's Danny Allsebrook by more than 1,000 votes.

In the run up to the election The Times published an article highlighting social posts from Menday in which he allegedly encouraged the use of white supremacist symbols and suggested "Jewish people in the West" were responsible for antisemitism because they "overwhelmingly favour open borders".

Menday told the paper he enjoyed "risky humour and pushing boundaries", adding: "I am not antisemitic nor do I have any Nazi sympathies."

"I have flirted with what could reasonably be referred to as 'far-right ideology' but ultimately I have come to reject its core tenets," Menday said.

"I am passionate about my country but I am and always have been motivated by love, not hate."

On Wednesday, the Sheffield Star reported further social media posts from a now deleted X account, including one in which he described people in the UK as being "fatter, uglier and poorly dressed" compared to those in continental Europe, adding: "On top of this we have a disgusting, almost subhuman underclass of people bringing the place down."

In a statement a Reform spokesman said: "Cllr Menday has been suspended from Reform UK pending investigation after he failed to declare social media posts which have brought the party into disrepute.

"Reform UK does not support such comments."

He said there was no timeline for how long their investigation would last.

Menday's suspension comes on the same day as Reform's Ken Tranter, who was elected to the Aldershot South seat on Hampshire County Council, apologised after posting on social media calling for the police to take action about "non white persons taking over" a town park.