Leaders call for Reform councillor to be removed after Hitler social media post

There have been cross-party calls for Reform UK to throw out one of their new Lancashire county councillors after he posted a picture of Hitler on his Facebook page.

The image – shared by Accrington North representative Joel Tetlow – was captioned seemingly to compare the arrival of small boats across the Channel to a Nazi invasion.

It comes just days after he became one of 53 Reform candidates elected to Lancashire County Council, which Reform now controls.

The leaders of the shrunken Conservative and Labour groups on the authority condemned the post, variously, as “highly offensive” and “abhorrent” – and said he should be removed from his party.

Reform UK at a national level told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) it would not be commenting on the matter, while the local party is yet to respond to a request to do so.

The LDRS has also attempted to contact County Cllr Tetlow himself, who has told Sky News he was indeed likening small boats to “an invasion”, although one more akin to that of the Trojan War – and that he did not intend “any disrespect” by using the image of the Nazi leader in the week of the 80th anniversary of VE Day.

The post – which has now been deleted and was flagged by a Twitter/X account called ‘Reform Party UK Exposed’ – showed Hitler and others looking at a map and featured text at the top of the image which read:  “Why don’t we invade them slowly? A few men at a time in small boats.”

At the bottom of the picture were the words:  “Don’t be stupid, that will never work.”

In his accompanying post – the original of which has not been seen by the LDRS – County Cllr Tetlow said:  “Let’s be grateful this idea was never put to him.   Or the world as we know it would be a whole lot different.”

County Cllr Aidy Riggott, leader of the Conservative opposition group at County Hall said the material and comments were “deeply disgusting and highly offensive and they have no place in politics or in society”.

He added:  “I hope and pray that this post is not a reflection of the thinking of the new Reform administration at County Hall.

“They should immediately kick County Cllr Joel Tetlow out of their group and out of the party to send a clear message to the people of Lancashire that this is not acceptable behaviour.”

Labour group leader Mark Clifford said “any other party” would have immediately suspended and investigated one of their members for such a post.

“If it’s come from his account, you would expect him to be expelled from the party.  It’s shocking and abhorrent from him, but also…from the Reform Party that they’re not taking action on this.

“It’s the worst kind of politics I have ever seen.  If this is what we’re going to have to endure for the next four years, Lancashire is in a very bad place,” County Cllr Clifford added.

Liberal Democrat county councillor John Potter said:  “It’s not a great start for the new Reform administration at County Hall.

“First, their masters in London U-turn after trying to ban the Lancashire flag flying at County Hall – and now one of their new councillors has again said something so offensive, he has had to delete [it].

“But, hey, it’s only been five days.”

Green Party group leader Gina Dowding added that county councillors would be wise to avoid “attention-seeking posts”.

In a statement issued to Sky News on Wednesday, County Cllr Tetlow, who was criticised in the run-up to the local elections for sharing a post from a group widely considered to be far-right, said:

“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 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.”

County Cllr Tetlow secured 52 percent of the vote in the Accrington North division in last week’s local elections, with a majority of 932 votes over Labour.

The Reform UK Party Exposed group said his Hitler post “clearly breaches” Lancashire County Council’s code of conduct.  The authority told the LDRS that the issue was a matter for Reform UK.

The now ruling group at County Hall will elect a leader on Saturday, but they will not be confirmed as the leader of the county council until it holds its annual general meeting on 22nd May.