Fiona Wild #

Introduction #

Fiona Wild was an independent councillor for the Lanehead ward on Burnley Borough Council in Lancashire, England, who resigned from the authority within days of posting on Facebook that the assassination of the American conservative activist Charlie Kirk was “good riddance.” The post, which also said the “not… very nice man made himself a target and brought this on himself” and that “America needs to get rid of the other tit now,” drew a public demand for her resignation from the leader of the council’s Conservative group and an official complaint under the members’ code of conduct. Wild deleted the post and quit her seat, with Burnley Council confirming the resignation and saying it “does not condone the comments.”

Background Information #

Wild represented the Lanehead ward as an independent. According to the BBC, she had previously represented Labour, and local reporting noted that she had recently resigned from the council’s Labour group and the party before sitting as an independent. Burnley Borough Council, whose 45 councillors provide district-level services for the Lancashire borough, has been under no overall control since 2019. At the time of her resignation, the council said, Wild “was serving as an independent councillor… and therefore was not affiliated to, or representing, any political party group within Burnley Council.”

The post was her response to the killing of Charlie Kirk, one of America’s most high-profile conservative media personalities, a trusted ally of President Donald Trump and the co-founder, at the age of 18 in 2012, of the student organisation Turning Point USA. Kirk, a 31-year-old father of two known for holding open-air political debates on US college campuses, was shot dead on 10 September 2025 while speaking at a debate at Utah Valley University.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation #

After Kirk was shot on 10 September 2025, Wild posted a comment on Facebook about his death. As the BBC reported it, she called the assassination “good riddance,” writing that the “not… very nice man made himself a target and brought this on himself.” The fuller text, quoted by Central Radio, read: “I don’t condone violence, but I do think he made himself a target and brought this on himself so good riddance to not a very nice man!” — followed by a second line: “America needs to get rid of the other tit now.” The post was later deleted.

Public Reaction and Consequences #

The reaction came swiftly, and from inside the council chamber. Jamie McGowan, leader of Burnley Council’s Conservative group and a councillor for the Hapton with Park ward, demanded Wild stand down, saying: “It’s such a disgusting thing to say, which shows a nasty side I didn’t know she had,” and that “the comment has sparked outrage with many residents calling out her lack of humanity.” In remarks reported by Central Radio, McGowan said: “I think that what Fiona Wild forgets is that two small children have woken up without their daddy this morning. Because of nothing more than his political beliefs.” He also lodged an official complaint with Burnley Borough Council, which would have to decide whether Wild had breached the authority’s code of conduct.

Wild resigned within days of the post. Burnley Council confirmed her departure in a statement: “We can confirm that Ms Wild has now resigned from her position.” The council added that it “does not condone the comments made in that post” and had received complaints under the Code of Conduct for Members, which would be investigated by the head of legal and democratic services. The BBC reported that it had attempted to contact Wild, who was also approached for comment by the Local Democracy Reporting Service; no response from her was reported.

Current Status #

Wild is no longer a member of Burnley Borough Council, having resigned her Lanehead seat on 11 September 2025 — the day after Kirk was killed and within days of the post. The resignation stands, the post was deleted, and no public comment from Wild on the matter was reported. The council’s statement confirmed that complaints under the Code of Conduct for Members had been received and would be investigated by the head of legal and democratic services, a process that had been set in motion before she left office. Burnley Council’s public position remained that it “does not condone the comments made in that post.”

Impact on Their Career/Life #

An elected position ended over a single social media post: Wild went from ward councillor to former councillor in roughly a day, with the Conservative group leader’s call to stand down answered by her resignation rather than an apology. Her own framing of the post — “I don’t condone violence, but I do think he made himself a target and brought this on himself” — did not survive the backlash; instead, McGowan’s rebuttal that “two small children have woken up without their daddy this morning” became the quotation that coverage of her exit paired with her words. The episode also removed her from the council at a stroke while leaving the code-of-conduct complaint process running in her absence. Whatever her future in local politics, the “good riddance” post is the act her brief national coverage fixed to her name, and the seat she surrendered was the concrete professional cost of it.