Key facts
- Reform UK's general secretary Tom Waterhouse has left his role, a party spokesperson said.
- The spokesperson said the party leader has appointed an interim general secretary.
- Labour chair Bridget Phillipson called Waterhouse the party's "latest fall guy" over Reform's problems.
- Waterhouse had been involved in Reform's candidate selection and a donor-funded recruitment push.
- Candidate vetting is now run by deputy chair Paul Nuttall, the report said.
Reform UK's general secretary, Tom Waterhouse, has left his role, the party said. A Reform UK spokesperson said: "Tom Waterhouse has left his role with Reform UK. The party leader has now appointed an interim general secretary." Staff at Reform's Millbank headquarters were informed on Wednesday that Waterhouse was leaving, according to The Guardian.
Waterhouse, a public affairs executive who previously worked in Westminster thinktanks and for the crown estate, was recruited in August last year. His departure follows the case of George Madgwick, Reform UK's leader on Hampshire county council, who was charged with 12 counts of rape and one of distributing indecent images of a child. Madgwick denies any wrongdoing. Farage said he "wasn't very happy" when asked why Madgwick remained in his role nearly 10 months after his January arrest.
Bridget Phillipson, the chair of the Labour party, said: "As the scandals pile up for Reform, everyone is being forced to take the blame except Nigel Farage. Their general secretary is the latest fall guy, but we all know nobody in Reform makes a decision without Farage's approval." The report said Waterhouse had been involved in Reform's internal investigation into two senior officials, James Orr and Dan Jukes, which cleared them of breaking laws banning foreign donations even though the matter remained under police investigation, and in a recruitment push and candidate selection. Candidate vetting is now run by deputy chair Paul Nuttall, the report said.