A Reform council leader has jumped to the defence of a party councillor who was criticised over social media posts he made about the police and Black women.
In now-deleted posts on X (Twitter) written before he was elected onto Staffordshire County Council, councillor Peter Mason called the police “a bunch of politically indoctrinated British hating scum”. In another post, from March 2024, he wrote: "What a surprise a statue of a fat arsed black woman.”
After the posts came to light, Mr Mason, who is also the cabinet member for highways at the council, apologised and said he regretted his choice of words. In the statement he sent to The Independent, he added that the posts were written during a difficult personal time when he was impacted by grief and redundancy.
However, political opponents at the council have called for him to step down, including Conservative group leader Philip White, who described the posts as “abhorrent”.
In response, Ian Cooper, leader of Staffordshire County Council, sent an email to Reform councillors to defend Mr Mason, claiming he had come under “targeted political attack” since standing for Reform.
The memo, titled “Statement in Defence of Cllr Peter Mason”, appeared to have been mistakenly sent to every Staffordshire councillor, before it was seen by The Independent.
Mr Cooper wrote: “These personal attacks are a deliberate attempt by Reform’s political opponents to distract from their failings and to politicise an individual’s right to express personal views.”
He continued: “Peter’s comment regarding a statue of a Black woman was a critique of public art, not a personal attack on an individual. His views on policing also reflect concerns shared by many, including recent reporting that, the Metropolitan Police is expanding its ‘woke’ workforce while facing a £250m funding gap and cutting thousands of frontline jobs.”
Staffordshire County Council was one of 10 councils that Reform gained control of at the local elections in May. Since then, the authorities, especially Kent County Council, have been under the spotlight amid speculation over the national party’s chances of winning the next general election.
At Prime Minister’s Questions on Thursday, Sir Keir Starmer criticised the running of Kent council, where five councillors were reportedly expelled from the party last month after a video leak featuring its leader Linden Kemkaran raising her voice at colleagues.
In Staffordshire, Green councillor Jack Rose said: “What’s happening in Staffordshire is clear to residents that Reform are more interested in protecting themselves than taking responsibility for their posts and serving the county.”
Mr White said: “This latest defence by the leader shows that rather than dealing with unacceptable behaviour, they wish to sweep it under the carpet and hope everyone can forget about it. Mr Mason should do the right thing and resign, not receive support from his leader over this.”
The Independent has contacted Mr Cooper for a response. Mr Mason said he would not resign and hoped to move on from the episode. “We are all entitled to make mistakes, particularly when dealing with personal matters in our lives,” he said.
Staffordshire County Council referred the matter to Reform UK, which The Independent has approached for comment.
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