Reform UK council leader axed by own members

Reform UK county councillors have ousted their own leader Jo Monk in Worcestershire.

Monk lost an internal leadership vote to councillor Alan Amos, meaning he now leads the group and is in pole position to become county council leader in May.

Reform runs the authority as a minority administration, having wrestled control from the Conservatives at the 2025 local elections.

The group made the decision at its annual general meeting, where all 25 Reform county councillors had the chance to vote.

"I'm very proud to have been elected as leader of the group and am grateful to my colleagues for their support," Amos said in reponse to the result.

The BBC understands the vote was split 15-10 in favour of Amos, meaning Reform has switched leaders less than 12 months after taking power at the authority.

"I'm looking forward to working for local residents, both to get this council back on a sound financial footing and to fight for the upcoming elections in Redditch," Amos continued.

He said he wanted to "be the first to thank Jo Monk for the hard work she's done", adding that they "inherited a mess from the Conservatives".

Amos was a Conservative MP in Northumberland in the late 1980s and early 90s.

He later became a Labour councillor in London and Worcester and then rejoined the Conservatives in 2015, only to quit the Tories a second time before joining Reform last year.

He was part of the old Worcestershire county council Conservative leadership that the current Reform administration has consistently criticised since taking power.

The Tories have responded by accusing Reform of overseeing "chaos".

Councillor Adam Kent, opposition Conservative group leader, said: "Worcestershire deserves serious, stable leadership.

"What we're seeing here feels less like a political movement and more like a vehicle for one individual's ambition, constantly shifting direction depending on what suits him at the time."

It's been a chaotic year for Reform in Worcestershire, with council tax going up 9% and the authority needing £59.9m in emergency government help to avoid effective bankruptcy.

Monk endured a torrid time in office, but her time as county council leader isn't quite over yet.

Amos now leads the Reform group - but cannot take over as leader of Worcestershire County Council until May 14, when the next full meeting takes place.

Monk will carry on at the helm of the authority until then, at which point all 57 county councillors will get to vote on a leader.

That is because the council's own constitution stipulates all county councillors must appoint a leader.

Amos will need the support of a majority of councillors, but will only fail to be elected leader if enough opposition politicians can team together to vote in an alternative, and effectively run a coalition.

At the moment there are 25 Reform councillors with 12 Conservative, 8 Green, 7 Lib Dem, 2 Labour and 3 independents.

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