Senior Reform UK official quits as questions over vetting failures continue

Departure of Tom Waterhouse, Reform’s ‘latest fall guy’, will be blow to party amid push towards professionalisation

Reform UK’s general secretary has left the role as Nigel Farage’s party continues to face turmoil over questions about vetting failures and professionalisation.

The departure of Tom Waterhouse comes after Reform UK’s leader on Hampshire county council, George Madgwick, was charged with 12 counts of rape and one of distributing indecent images of a child.

Waterhouse, a public affairs executive who previously worked in the world of Westminster thinktanks and for the crown estate, was recruited in August last year. Labour described him as Reform’s “latest fall guy” for problems at the party.

A Reform UK spokesperson said: “Tom Waterhouse has left his role with Reform UK. The party leader has now appointed an interim general secretary.”

Waterhouse’s departure will be a blow to Reform’s drive towards professionalisation, a project he had been at the centre of. He had been involved in a big recruitment push, bankrolled by wealthy donors, and in the selection of candidates for a future general election.

Waterhouse had also been involved in Reform’s internal investigation into two of its senior officials, James Orr and Dan Jukes, alongside Adam Richardson, the party’s legal secretary and a longstanding associate of Farage. Their investigation cleared Orr and Jukes of breaking laws that ban foreign donations, despite the matter remaining under police investigation.

However, the recent case of Madgwick severely embarrassed the party and once again brought the question of Reform’s candidate vetting process into the spotlight. That process is now run by Paul Nuttall, the party’s deputy chair and former Ukip leader, but Waterhouse’s departure reflects continuing organisational turmoil at Reform.

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.

“Farage is yet to come clean on what he knew about the arrest of his senior campaign manager and leader in Hampshire, who is now facing 35 very serious charges. And he tried to cover up a secret £5m ‘gift’ from a crypto billionaire.”

The Reform leader has not concealed his unhappiness at continued failures in candidate vetting and other matters.

“I wasn’t very happy,” said Farage when asked why Madgwick, who was arrested in January over several alleged sexual offences, was still in his role nearly 10 months later. Madgwick denies any wrongdoing.

Farage last month also blamed “staff incompetence” for a poor turnout and a half-empty hall during a Reform UK economic policy launch event in London.

Staff at Reform’s Millbank HQ were informed on Wednesday that Waterhouse was leaving. He was one of a number of figures seen as an asset to Reform’s push for power who have recently parted ways with the party or been sidelined.

Tim Montgomerie, a high-profile activist who defected from the Conservatives, was suspended in August after he criticised Farage’s decision not to attend the count when he won the Clacton byelection.