A former Newham Labour mayor and councillor have joined Reform UK, with one running for mayor in the borough.
Clive Furness and Sir Robin Wales served the borough on behalf of the ruling party for almost 50 years between them.
Furness, who was a Labour councillor for more than two decades, said the party had “failed London” and is "completely out of touch with the communities it was meant to represent".
He cited the “Balkanisation of Britain” - the perceived fragmentation of the UK into groups separated along social, ethnic, religious or political lines - as one of the reasons he was joining Reform.
Furness has been selected as the party’s candidate for mayor of Newham in the upcoming local and mayoral elections, which take place on Thursday, 7 May.
Meanwhile Sir Robin, who was the borough’s Labour mayor for 23 years, is lined up to be Reform’s London director of local government.
During his tenure, Sir Robin oversaw Newham’s regeneration as part of the London 2012 Olympics and, at the time he left his post, had been the UK’s longest-serving mayor.
He was deselected by the party in 2018 and replaced by the current mayor, Rokhsana Fiaz.
Sir Robin claimed London had fallen victim to "soaring crime, failing services, and a party that prioritises the wealthy elite over the working class it was built to represent" under Labour mayor Sadiq Khan.
He added that while Reform has “a lot of rough edges”, it represents a real chance to "transform our society".
Newham is one of 21 local authorities in London currently run by Labour. Reform has no representation on the council at present, with Labour holding the majority of its seats.
But Nigel Farage is hoping to change that. With a number of high-profile Conservatives having recently defected to Reform - including Suella Braverman, Robert Jenrick and Nadhim Zahawi - the party leader had previously hinted at the prospect of a mass Labour defection to Reform.
In response to the news, a London Labour spokesperson said: “If Clive Furness and Robin Wales count as a ‘major London announcement’, Reform really is scraping the barrel.
“Neither man has been part of the Labour movement for some time. In Newham, Robin Wales was removed by local members following concerns about his record in office after Labour members selected a new candidate.
“Nigel Farage, Laila Cunningham and their allies spend their time talking London down and attacking the success of one of the most proudly multicultural cities in the world.
“Meanwhile, Labour is focused on delivering for London – supporting 240,000 children by ending the two-child cap, cutting energy bills for 3.7 million households, expanding free school meals and breakfast clubs, and strengthening protections for 2.7 million renters”.
