Reform Faces "Headache" Over New Press Officer's "Immigration, Diversity And Gays" Comments
2 min read
There is growing discontent within Reform UK over the decision to replace the party's long-standing head of press.
Ed Sumner recently replaced Gawain Towler as the party's head of communications. Towler spent many years working with Nigel Farage and other Reform figures while he served in press officer roles for UKIP and the Brexit Party.
Zia Yusuf, Reform chairman, has set out plans to "professionalise" the right-wing party after it won five seats at the 4 July General Election and bids to grow its support.
But the decision to replace Towler with Sumner has been received negatively by some elements of the party.
In June, Nation Cymru reported Sumner's WhatsApp messages to colleagues while he was working for the Welsh Tory party which described London's New Year firework display as too focused on “immigration, diversity and gays".
“F*** me. This firework display. All about immigration, diversity and gays,” he reportedly wrote on 1 January 2024. “All about what we have in common, trying to force immigration and multiculturalism on us,” he is said to have posted in the WhatsApp group.
Sumner also reportedly said that the show appeared to end on a "drone show of Mohammed looking down on us all", as it displayed LED devices displaying a child blowing bubbles.
The Conservative Party had no record of disciplining Sumner at the time.
A Reform source told PoliticsHome the reported comments were a “scandal” and a headache the “party could really do without”.
“I worked with Gawain on campaigns in the north, he was a huge help for many of the candidates we were working with and the very definition of a professional,” they said.
“Many of us in the party are concerned about what this change represents.
"Now we hear that Gawain’s replacement has been involved in a scandal that the party could really do without. We’re working hard out here in the country and it’s not fair our work is being undermined by Westminster professionals and divisive internal politics.”
Ben Habib, Reform's former deputy leader, posted on X after Towler's dismissal that "anyone familiar with the party and its history" knew sacking him was a "mistake".
Suzanne Evans, who served as the former deputy chair of UKIP, and worked with Towler, also said the decision was “very unfair" and Reform UK had made a "big mistake".
PoliticsHome has contacted Reform UK for comment.
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