Local Reform UK leader has no interest in bringing DOGE to Doncaster for “cheap stunt”
Councillor Guy Aston says he Reform wanted to be a serious party and not a “protest opposition”.
The Reform UK group leader on the City of Doncaster Council has said he has no interest in “cheap stunts” and will not bring Zia Yusuf’s DOGE unit to Doncaster.
Councillor Guy Aston told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) the move had been discussed, but he wanted to be a serious party and not a “protest opposition”.
He said: “It had been considered but I think it was seen as nothing more than a cheap stunt as Yusuf wouldn’t have got in as they wouldn’t allow it.”
Reform UK’s DOGE team would have needed the Labour administration, headed by Mayor Ros Jones, to willingly sign-off on the idea.
“I had to make a decision”, Cllr Aston continued, “Are we a protest party or are we serious about running Doncaster? And I think we are serious.
“Stunts like that are for a protest opposition. I don’t want to behave like a red top.”
Aston spoke to the LDRS for the first time since the weeks after the local elections in May, when his party swept to 37 seats on Doncaster Council.
The considerable council chamber majority has made Aston the leader of a very large opposition, now 35 councillors, to Labour’s Ros Jones – who was re-elected as the Mayor of Doncaster.
Reflecting on his party’s first few months on the council, Aston said: “The whole thing is lessons learnt. During the election we were saying to ourselves that we don’t believe it.
“We were just happening to bump into Reform supporters. We would never have dreamt to get as many seats as we got.
“What it meant is that we had a tranche of new councillors – never seen before in British politics – that had never been in a council before.”
He said it meant there was a lot of inexperience in his ranks and a lot of lessons to learn, but insisted there were positives.
“What you have here are Doncaster people and they are not politicos,” he said, “It’s been a challenge for everybody.”
He said the party entered council with no mentors, adding newbies in Labour would have experienced councillors to show them the ropes – instead, his councillors were inundated with information at training sessions following their election.
One of the biggest lessons for Doncaster Reform UK was the humiliating shutdown of its flag motion in July’s full council meeting.
Eight councillors and Mayor Jones spoke passionately against the motion, which would have seen all flags other than the Union Flag banned from council property.
The motion, which could only ask Mayor Jones to “consider” changing council policy, was voted through by the Reform majority, but not a single Reform councillor spoke in support of Cllrs Jason Charity and Karl Hughes – who proposed and seconded the motion.
Additionally, Reform UK’s Craig Ward and Brendan Megaw revealed to the LDRS that they had voted against their party colleague’s motion.
Aston said: “We have learnt where we can. The flag motion could have been better. We have learnt from it and it won’t happen again.”
Reform UK has since hired a political advisor to Doncaster Council to assist them.
Aston revealed the party had chosen Catherine Mullen, the outgoing clerk of Edlington Town Council, to advise its councillors.
He said: “Catherine was in Brussels and had lots of UKIP MEPs dumped on her and she had to teach them the ropes.”
Mullen will play a key role in what Aston described as his “12-month process”.
He told the LDRS he wants the first year to be a learning experience, before they move to what he called “stage two of our operation”.
“We have our advisor and we now need to get on with fighting our corner,” he said, “That’s the politics and how to fight politically in the council… we will grow to a fighting Reform UK opposition.
“I’m pleased at the moment that we are en-route.”