In October, the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) reported Whitford had threatened to quit Reform UK, but then changed his mind.
The LDRS reported that Whitford had told a resident in an email that he would “step down” at a Reform group meeting of the council, but later distanced himself from the comments.
Whitford then told the LDRS he had “no intention of standing down” from either Reform UK or as a cabinet member.
The LDRS report detailed a number of complaints from residents in Markfield about Whitford’s comments in relation to alleged aggressive behaviour around the erection of flags in their community.
In emails to a resident, the LDRS said Whitford claimed the people raising the flags were doing so to “reject” the “destruction of British values” amid an alleged “influx of soon to be millions of mainly Muslim men of fighting age”.
The LDRS added that Whitford also claimed in the emails that immigrants were coming to make the UK a “Muslim state”, leading to one of the residents accusing him of “whipping up hatred” with his words.
When asked about these comments, Whitford told the LDRS he did not “know what [we were] talking about”.
He added he believed there was an effort to “discredit” him among opposition groups on the council.
When pressed on whether he denied making the comments altogether, he said he was not “denying or saying anything”.
At the time, a Reform UK spokesman told the LDRS his understanding was that Whitford would not be resigning. He added the party was not looking to take any disciplinary action against him.
