Tom Pickup #

Introduction #

Tom Pickup is a Reform UK politician who served as a Lancashire county councillor for the Padiham West and Burnley division. In November 2025, he was suspended by Reform UK pending an investigation after screenshots from a WhatsApp group he belonged to were published, including messages in which a member allegedly called for a “mass Islam genocide” and reports that Pickup himself had traded crude insults in the same chat. He sat as an independent while the party investigated, and on February 10, 2026, Reform restored his whip, saying he had “served a three month suspension for his conduct.”

Background Information #

Pickup was an elected member of Lancashire County Council, representing Padiham West and Burnley, and at the time of the reports was serving as the council’s lead member for resources and finance. He admitted being a member of the WhatsApp group at the center of the affair, which reporting said had been set up by a right-wing activist. The story emerged when screenshots of his messages from the group were posted on social media, and Pickup said he left the group that week.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation #

According to the Guardian’s reporting, which was picked up by LBC and LocalGov, the WhatsApp group contained messages in which one participant allegedly called for a “mass Islam genocide” and encouraged others to stockpile weapons to attack “lefties” and “migrants.” In one exchange, a member said Prime Minister Keir Starmer “needs a f****** bullet,” to which another user replied, “He’s a D**Kdator.” Pickup said he was not aware of the more extreme posts and questioned whether they were genuine, telling the newspaper, “It’s something that I would have condemned and probably reported but I don’t know if they [the messages] are genuine. I’ve not seen them.”

Pickup’s own reported messages drew the immediate scrutiny. During the group’s exchanges, he reportedly called Starmer a “d**ktaker,” labelled a government minister a “Ukrainian boy penetrator,” said he agreed with “mass deportations,” and wrote: “Everyone in Reform is a lot more hardline on immigration than is typically stated publicly, to get a majority government we have to be tactical.” He admitted membership of the group but said his messages had been “twisted out of context,” describing the Starmer remark as a “jokey comment” that amounted to “poor judgment.” “99% of what occurs in groups, I don’t see,” he told the newspaper. “Based on my involvement in it and what I have seen, I’ve been my usual jokey self and it’s been twisted out of context.”

Public Reaction and Consequences #

Nigel Farage’s party confirmed that Pickup had been suspended pending an investigation, and at the time Pickup said he respected the party’s decision to suspend him. A spokesperson for Lancashire County Council said: “We are aware that county councillor Tom Pickup has been suspended from Reform UK pending investigation. Cllr Pickup remains a councillor, sitting as an independent.”

Samara Barnes, a Labour councillor on Lancashire County Council, called for Pickup to resign, saying: “We are at a time when we’re living in a tinderbox and if people are suggesting we should be having an Islam genocide, this is domestic terrorism.” She added: “This is beyond an apology or some training. This is more serious and Reform UK need to really take a stand.”

Current Status #

On February 10, 2026, Reform UK restored the whip, confirming that “having served a three month suspension for his conduct, the party whip has been restored.” The party added: “Councillor Pickup has apologised for his comments, which were unprofessional and inappropriate.” After roughly three months sitting as an independent, Pickup once again holds the Reform whip.

The underlying allegations stand as they were reported: the genocide call was attributed to another member of the group, and Pickup denied knowing of the most extreme posts. Separately, a code of conduct complaint was submitted to Lancashire County Council relating to comments made by others in the group — which Pickup said he was added to and did not actively join or monitor — and the authority said its investigation had not yet concluded.

Impact on Their Career/Life #

The suspension cost Pickup the Reform whip for about three months, during which he sat as an independent on Lancashire County Council, and turned a county councillor into a national story, with the Guardian’s disclosures reported by LBC and LocalGov. The reinstatement returned him to the party’s benches, but only after a public apology the party itself announced, and with the council’s code of conduct process still open. For Reform UK, the case followed a suspend-then-reinstate arc: rapid suspension at the height of the reports, a three-month penalty, and a readmission it framed around his apology for comments it called “unprofessional and inappropriate.”