Councillor Stuart Prior Faces Labour MPs’ Call for Suspension
Labour MPs have called for Reform UK to suspend councillor Stuart Prior after allegations that he replied to a post about the rape of two Sikh women with the words, “Good. Reap it.” Prior is standing for Reform in Rayleigh West for Essex county council and for Sweyne Park and Grange for Rochford district council.
Four Labour MPs sent a joint letter to Reform’s leader in Sandwell, Ray Nock, asking him to condemn the comments and to write to Nigel Farage requesting that Prior be immediately withdrawn as a Reform party candidate. The MPs also alleged that Jonathan James Fox, a Reform candidate in Sandwell, had shared a post in 2019 that said, “People who eat bacon are less likely to blow themselves up.”
Stuart Prior allegation
A joint investigation by the Mirror and Hope Not Hate alleged that Prior made racist comments on social media in the past few months. The alleged comments included declaring white people the “master race” and calling Muslim people “rats.”
Zarah Sultana posted on X in October about the rapes of two Sikh and Punjabi women in Walsall and Oldbury. In response to that post, Prior is alleged to have said, “Good. Reap it.” Two Sikh women in their 20s were raped in separate attacks in Walsall and Oldbury last year.
Labour MPs write to Ray Nock
The MPs named in the letter were Sarah Coombes, Antonia Bance, Gurinder Singh Josan and Alex Ballinger. They asked Ray Nock to condemn what they called disgusting behaviour and to seek Prior’s removal from Reform’s candidate list.
The letter also said Fox’s 2019 post was a clear statement of hatred against Muslims. The MPs linked both cases to concern over how Reform vets candidates, after Hope Not Hate highlighted the views of a number of Reform candidates last week.
Reform disciplinary review
Reform UK said the party was thoroughly investigating the allegations. It said the cases involving Prior and Fox were with the party’s disciplinary team.
The wider political pressure now sits on Reform’s response, because the allegations reach beyond one candidate and into the party’s selection process in Essex and Sandwell. John Ashby, 32, was sentenced to life in prison last week for the racially motivated rape of the woman in Walsall, keeping the case at the center of public scrutiny.
