A Warwickshire councillor who defected from Reform UK has lifted the lid on a nine-month civil war in which accusations of slander have been traded with the leadership.
Cllr Scott Cameron was one of two elected members – alongside Cllr Luke Cooper (Studley) – to leave Reform on Thursday afternoon (February 19).
The party in charge at Shire Hall announced they had been expelled for planning to join Rupert Lowe’s political movement Restore Britain.
Cllr Cameron admitted he was set to make the move anyway but alleges that “backbiting, vitriol, bullying (and) slander” inside Warwickshire’s Reform UK group had fuelled his decision.
He lays the blame at the door of leader Cllr George Finch and his deputy Cllr Stephen Shaw, describing a “clique” that “half a dozen” councillors get “excluded” from because they question decisions.
Cllr Finch denied the allegations, claiming that Cllr Cameron had turned down senior posts and believed that he should be leader instead.
Cllr Shaw went even further, describing Cllr Cameron as a “bad egg” who had tried to thwart his appointment as portfolio holder for finance and property by making “slanderous” remarks.
Thursday’s point of no return
Correspondence, seen by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, shows Cllr Cameron raised a complaint about the performance of a cabinet member – not the deputy – with Cllr Finch on Thursday morning.
He had previously filed a code of conduct complaint against Cllr Finch with the council. Following feedback, he then filed it with Reform UK at exactly 3pm on Thursday.
By 3.02pm, Reform had sent out news that the party whip had been removed from Cllr Cameron and Cllr Cooper.
Cllr Cameron was then sent notice of his suspension from the party “pending an investigation” at 3.11pm but by 3.14pm, Reform UK’s media service announced that both had been expelled.
Restore Britain then welcomed the pair on social media site X, a post that was quoted by Cllr Finch’s verified account with a waving hand and the phrase: “Good riddance!”
Cllr Finch’s post has subsequently been deleted.
It is alleged that the acrimony is the bitter legacy of Cllr Cameron standing for leader of the group after the local elections in May 2025. He says “multiple” Reform councillors have fed back “derogatory” comments from Cllr Finch in the months since.
Cllr Cameron claims the situation then ramped up with elected officials from other authorities and three separate political groups, including Reform, telling him that Cllr Finch and Cllr Shaw had “badmouthed me to anyone who would listen” at civic events.
Cllr Cameron stressed that the problem was not universal, that he “still gets on with many” in Reform and wished his ex-colleagues well.
A slow and painful split
Cllr Cameron said he was the subject of “extremely slanderous” remarks from Cllr Finch while standing for the party leadership, confirming he had “consulted a barrister” over an attempt to smear him as “powerhungry” ahead of the vote.
He lost an initial vote 11-10 to original leader Cllr Rob Howard followed by a 15-7 defeat to Cllr Finch when Cllr Howard stood down on health grounds.
“I stood for leader and didn’t get it – that’s fine, that’s democracy,” he said.
“Since then I have been subjected to bullying and harassment which has made me question my allegiance not only to the Warwickshire group but to the party as a whole.
“It got to the point where I had to submit formal complaints. There is a line and those individuals well and truly crossed it.
“They have been to civic events in their respective roles as leader and deputy where they have badmouthed me to anyone who will listen.
“At the most recent event it turned out they were speaking to councillors from other authorities, some of whom represent the same wards I do. Naturally, I have heard what was said.”
He went on to allege that those who question Cllr Finch get ostracised.
“Some of them try to stay involved but they are not in the inner sanctum,” said Cllr Cameron.
“There is a group within the group, certain councillors are excluded. You hear second-hand that something is happening and you have no idea because they are talking amongst themselves.
“It is the George Finch clique and if you are not in it, you are very much out of it.
“It is the people who speak out when they are unhappy, if it goes against the grain Councillor Finch does not like that. He does not like to be held accountable for his actions.”
He added that his requests for work to be done through his delegated budget “gets ignored every week” and that he was threatened with expulsion from the party in December for bringing forward a motion on road safety alongside Green Party councillor Nicki Scott, despite Cllr Finch earlier telling him in a phone conversation that it was “great we were working with another party”.
Complaints
Cllr Cameron submitted a formal complaint to monitoring officer Sarah Duxbury – the council’s most senior legal official and arbiter of code of conduct issues – over “numerous breaches” by Cllr Finch.
The response was that some issues were party matters, while those under the council’s remit would not be taken forward. Cllr Cameron is “considering my options” over whether to take that further.
One of the matters he raised was Cllr Finch’s comments on a live criminal case during a Reform UK press conference in London in August.
“He stood on that stage and said he had been told that he could be in contempt of court but then said what he said anyway,” said Cllr Cameron.
“Who gave him that advice and who thinks that is good advice?”
Warwickshire County Council is known to have appointed an external solicitor to investigate previous complaints over those comments made by Cllr Finch.
Restore Britain
Cllr Cameron spoke of his admiration for Restore founder Rupert Lowe MP, describing himself as “very disappointed when he got kicked out of Reform”.
He says Reform has “quietly dropped” or “watered down” national policies and that he is “not exactly sure what Reform represents any more”.
“I’d have gone anyway but what I have experienced over the past nine months is not what I stand for,” he concluded.
“Backbiting, vitriol, bullying, slander – there’s politics and then there is just bad behaviour.
“I go to parish council meetings where people say they voted Reform, not for a 19-year-old leader of the council who has no work or life experience and who has never paid council tax.
“They tell me they will never vote Reform again, that I work hard and do a good job for them but that (they can’t get past him) being linked to that.”
The leader’s response
Cllr Finch insisted he did not wish to get into “tit-for-tat or gossip” but was unhappy with any implication that Reform councillors do not do a good job.
“You have someone who wasn’t even on a committee, went for the leadership twice and the deputy once and failed at all of those massively,” said Cllr Finch.
“He then has the audacity to imply that people on the council are not working hard. I see that as quite awful, it is not fair on his former colleagues.”
Cllr Finch said Cllr Cameron “was offered cabinet positions and committee positions” but “didn’t want any”.
He moved to dismiss links between Reform’s announcements and Cllr Cameron filing complaints, stating his group had found out about the double defection through “one of Scott’s allies” and acted accordingly.
“We couldn’t have anyone who was going to do that, they had to go,” added Cllr Finch.
He denied talking behind Cllr Cameron’s back and went on to say: “Scott’s issue came about when he was speaking to the Greens about a motion without talking to the cabinet or the wider group.”
Cllr George Finch was chosen as Reform UK’s new Warwickshire leader ahead of Cllr Scott Cameron (image via X)
Put to him that Cllr Cameron said his cross-party effort had been welcomed by the leader himself, Cllr Finch replied: “Sometimes you are telling someone when you have already done it, sometimes you are asking them for permission. He just told me and it was a big shock.”
Put to him that Cllr Cameron had taken that as a green light, Cllr Finch said the “nuance to the conversation was much different to that”. He declined to comment when asked for further detail.
On works related to delegated budgets, Cllr Finch said: “Everybody has that problem, I don’t get many works done because of the way the system is.
“Now we have the new highways contract, I have made sure those things get done sooner.
“It is a bit of paranoia, putting that down to us. That’s just the swing of things but Reform is making sure that process is swift and robust moving forward.”
And the deputy says…
Cllr Shaw insisted: “I didn’t badmouth Scott, I just told the truth.
“He was causing trouble in the group, he badmouthed me on a phone call, slanderous comments so I wouldn’t get the finance and property portfolio.
“People in our group lost faith in him. Scott always wanted to be leader but never achieved it because he is not good at working in a team.
“He was offered positions on committees and on the cabinet, he didn’t want to do them. All he wanted was the top job, to do absolutely nothing and to take the money.
“He thinks he is a law unto himself and the best thing for Reform is that he is not in the party.
“I like Rupert Lowe, he is a good politician but I feel sorry for him having Scott as a councillor. He doesn’t know much about him.”
He was keen to make it known that Cllr Cooper is a “fantastic guy”.
“I’m disappointed to lose Luke, he was very good to our group, but I wish him all the best,” said Cllr Shaw.
Cllr Cameron said he had never been offered a cabinet position, refuted each of the suggestions made by his two former colleagues and stood by his version of events.
