Ian Cooper, the leader of Staffordshire County Council and a Reform UK politician, has been accused of racism after allegedly making offensive remarks about London Mayor Sadiq Khan and others. According to messages seen by the anti-fascist group Hope Not Hate and shared with The Guardian, Cooper reportedly called Khan a “narcissistic Pakistani” and described London as “a 3rd world shit hole”.
In other alleged posts, Cooper attacked Justice Secretary David Lammy, stating that “no foreign national or first generation migrant should be allowed to sit in parliament”. He also targeted broadcaster Sangita Myska, claiming she was English “only in your dreams”, and British-born lawyer Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu, suggesting she should “F’d off back to Nigeria”.
Cooper is also alleged to have said that diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) schemes disguise “oppression” and enable a situation “where indigenous people are actively removed or excluded”. He reportedly claimed migrants from the “global majority south” were “intent on colonising the UK, destroying all that has gone before”.
Reform UK said it was undertaking an “urgent internal investigation over Councillor Cooper’s non-disclosure of social media accounts”. The party has previously suspended two other politicians over offensive messages: Laura Anne Jones, the sole Reform UK member of the Senedd, used a racial slur, and Lancashire councillor Tom Pickup called Keir Starmer a “dicktaker” in a WhatsApp group where members allegedly called for “mass Islam genocide”.
Cooper, who was Nigel Farage’s parliamentary candidate for Tamworth in 2023 and again in the last general election, previously defended fellow Reform UK councillor Peter Mason. Mason had criticised a statue of a “fat arsed black woman” and described police as “British hating scum”. Cooper said Mason was under “targeted political attack”.
Gregory Davis, a senior researcher at Hope Not Hate, said: “The picture painted by Ian Cooper’s social media posts is of a man who is deeply bigoted and tapped into far-right media and terminology. It’s particularly shocking that someone in a leadership position has not been vetted sufficiently – or perhaps Farage and his party think this is an acceptable way to behave?”
