John Allen #

Introduction #

John Allen is a British local politician who was suspended from Reform UK in September 2025 and expelled from the party the following month over alleged online comments about killing Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer. Allen, who represents the Hirst ward on Northumberland County Council, was first suspended “pending investigation” after anti-racism campaign group Hope Not Hate flagged a YouTube account that had posted comments saying its owner would shoot the prime minister. An internal party investigation concluded with his expulsion in October 2025, after which he continued to sit on the county council as an unaligned member. The BBC reported throughout that the account in question was not verified as belonging to Allen, and the allegations therefore remain attributed claims rather than established facts.

Background Information #

Allen was elected to Northumberland County Council in May 2025 as a Reform UK councillor for the Hirst ward, a seat covering part of Ashington in the north east of England. After his election he held positions on the council’s county emergency committee and licensing committee, the Ashington & Blyth Community Partnership, and the Northumbria Police and Crime Panel, which scrutinises the county’s police and crime commissioner. GB News reported that he served as Reform’s Shadow Housing & Planning member on the council. Beyond these council roles, little about Allen’s life before politics was reported in the coverage of his suspension; he was a first-term county councillor when the controversy broke. His election came in a breakthrough cycle for Reform UK in local government, and the Northumberland county council group he joined was, at the time of his expulsion, the official opposition to a Conservative administration with twenty seats.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation #

The controversy centred on comments posted by a YouTube account with the username @johnallen7807. According to the BBC, a commenter using that account said he would shoot Sir Keir Starmer if given the chance. The comments were reportedly discovered by Hope Not Hate, the anti-racism campaign group that has repeatedly surfaced social media posts by Reform UK councillors and candidates. The BBC reported the story on 19 September 2025, and stated that the account had not been verified as belonging to Allen; the councillor was approached for comment. Other posts attributed to the account included one saying “I can’t wait to see Srarmer [sic] swinging from a lamp post” and another reading “I’d shoot Starmer myself if I had the weapon and opportunity,” which the BBC reported after the expulsion. The allegations were serious enough that Reform UK acted on them within days of the report, suspending Allen before any findings had been published.

Public Reaction and Consequences #

Reform UK’s first response was suspension. A party spokesperson confirmed in September 2025 that Allen had been suspended “pending investigation” while the party examined the alleged comments. The suspension ended his roles in the party’s leadership structure on the council, including his position as the group’s Shadow Housing & Planning spokesperson. GB News noted that Allen was facing an internal investigation over the alleged threats, and the story was picked up in the context of a series of Reform UK suspensions that autumn; the BBC’s report noted that the party had a month earlier suspended Durham County Council’s Paul Bean over posts alleged to have breached civil service impartiality rules. After the investigation concluded, Reform UK went further and expelled Allen entirely, with a spokesman saying he had been expelled for “bringing the party into disrepute after making several unacceptable remarks online.” The party did not publish its investigative findings.

Current Status #

Allen is no longer a member of Reform UK. Following his expulsion in October 2025, he continued to serve as the Hirst ward representative on Northumberland County Council as an unaligned member, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service. His ties to the wider Reform apparatus were otherwise severed: he resigned his seat on Ashington Town Council, and Reform’s Sonia Sim replaced him after a by-election held on 16 October 2025. The BBC reported that Allen was the third councillor at Northumberland County Council to be expelled from Reform, after Nicole Brooke and Patrick Lambert were kicked out earlier the same month for breaching party rules over plans to hold a no-confidence vote in the local leadership. No criminal proceedings arising from the alleged comments were reported; the account itself was never publicly verified as his.

Impact on Their Career/Life #

The affair ended Allen’s career as a Reform UK politician within a month of the allegations surfacing. A councillor who in May 2025 had won election for Nigel Farage’s party and taken on Shadow portfolio responsibilities, committee seats, and a place on the police and crime panel was, by late October 2025, expelled from the party, stripped of his town council seat, and sitting as an unaligned member of the county council. The case also fed the accumulating record of Reform UK disciplinary actions that opposition campaigners used to argue the party had a “systematic problem” with candidate vetting, a critique Hope Not Hate repeated as each new suspension was announced. For Allen personally, the allegations attached to his name a permanent public record of comments advocating violence against a sitting prime minister — remarks attributed to an unverified account, but serious enough that his own party chose expulsion over retaining him. He retained his county council seat, which he continues to hold outside any party group.