Sam Webber
Bromley councillor cold-called by Reform UK to stand as a paper candidate.
Last refreshed: 13 April 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
Why did Reform UK cold-call a rival party councillor to be a candidate?
Timeline for Sam Webber
65 Reform councillors gone in a year
UK Local Elections 2026- Did Reform UK really cold-call a councillor from another party?
- Yes. Reform UK's membership team called Bromley councillor Sam Webber five days before the 2026 nomination deadline, asking him to stand as a Reform paper candidate.Source: uk-elections-2026
- How bad is Reform UK's candidate vetting?
- HOPE not hate described it as nil. HuffPost UK reported 65 of 677 Reform councillors elected in 2025 had quit, defected, or been expelled within a year.Source: uk-elections-2026
Background
Sam Webber is a sitting Bromley councillor who was cold-called by Reform UK's membership team five days before nomination deadlines closed for the 2026 local elections, asking him to stand as a paper candidate for the party. Webber was a councillor for a rival party at the time, making the approach a striking illustration of Reform's chaotic candidate-vetting operation .
The incident was reported by HuffPost UK as part of wider coverage showing that 65 of Reform's 677 councillors elected in 2025 had already quit, defected, or been expelled within a year. HOPE not hate described Reform's candidate screening as "nil". The Webber call suggested the party was still operating the same scattergun recruitment approach in 2026 as it had during its 2025 surge.
The case matters beyond the anecdote: it points to the structural fragility of Reform's local government presence, where councillors elected on wave enthusiasm have little ideological or organisational attachment to the party. Bromley, an outer London Tory heartland, is territory Reform was explicitly targeting for consolidation.