Lies and deceit: Nigel Farage on stage at his Reform rally in the Fairfield Halls on Saturday night. Behind the scenes Reform members were resigning from the grifters’ party
ELECTION EXCLUSIVE: Reform in Croydon is in meltdown, with members resigning over top-down decisions from Farage HQ. WALTER CRONXITE, Political Editor, reports on the Fairfield Halls exercise in onanism, where the real fireworks were going off backstage
Grifter-in-chief Nigel Farage launched Reform’s London election campaign at the Fairfield Halls on Saturday amid pyrotechnics and his usual, self-regarding rhetoric.
But the real fireworks were going off behind the scenes in Reform’s Croydon branch, with mass resignations over Farage HQ’s imposed mayoral candidate, the ex-Tory Ben Flook.
Dan Milner-Tebbutt, who until last Monday was the local party’s chair and primed to be Reform’s first mayoral candidate in Croydon, yesterday announced that he had quit the party altogether, saying, “Croydon deserves serious politics – politics driven by a love for the borough, not by career ambition.”
Tebbutt’s resignation has been followed by around 10 other disgruntled members quitting, angry at how Farage’s party HQ has imposed Flook on them as their Croydon mayoral candidate. Most of those resigning were to have stood as council candidates in the local elections on May 7. They have left a gaping hole in Reform’s candidate list, with the declaration deadline fast approaching. Continue reading
Now is your chance. The Croydonites Fringe is returning from July 1 to 5 in venues across Croydon and South Norwood, and they are looking for bold and exciting work from comedy, theatre, dance, music, poetry and more!
The Ideal Home Show returns to Olympia London from April 10-19, bringing its most interactive and experience‑led edition yet to the capital.
Supplier relationships are central to how modern organisations operate. A single third-party failure, whether financial, regulatory or operational, can trigger consequences that ripple through an entire business.
CROYDON CHRONICLES: From the night of the Great Fire of Croydon, DAVID MORGAN tells the story of a family of vicars and bishops, of writers and editors, and Enigma codebreakers
With Tory Jason Perry’s election pledges dropping on residents’ doormats this week and Labour candidate Rowenna Davis publishing her manifesto, the claims and promises of the two front-runners for Croydon Mayor are examined here by ANDREW FISHER
Top of the Mayor’s list is “fixing the finances”, which will be news to both Croydon residents and the government Commissioners alike. This year, the council requested £119million of Exceptional Financial Support, up from £110 million last year, and up from £50m in 2023-2024.
ELECTION EXCLUSIVE: Less than 48 hours before he was due to be unveiled at the Fairfield Halls as his party’s pick to head their campaign in Croydon, Dan Milner-Tebbutt resigned. Political editor WALTER CRONXITE reveals his replacement, another Conservative defector to the party of grifters 
ELECTION SKETCH: In a cramped ‘hub’ in Broad Green, the first full hustings of the 2026 Croydon Mayor campaign took place last night. KEN TOWL was there, so you didn’t need to be (and you couldn’t have squeezed in, anyway)
Just five days before their party leader is expected at the Fairfield Halls for a rally to be attended by “thousands” (in a Concert Hall with a capacity of fewer than 1,800), and Reform Ltd in Croydon has changed their local chair for the third time in barely nine months.
HOOK’S SHOT: The wickets have been rolled, the stumps varnished and bats oiled with linseed. From his seat in The Oval Long Room, MARCUS HOOK, pictured right, looks ahead to the cricket season
Reform UK could win eight or nine council seats in May’s local elections in Croydon, mostly from the Tories. And they could scupper the Conservative Mayor’s re-election bid. But gormless Jason Perry won’t cancel Nigel Farage’s booking at the Fairfield Halls.
Six weeks out from the local elections, the government has published a damning report from its Commissioners at Croydon Council which is hugely critical of failed Mayor Jason Perry and council bosses Katherine Kerswell and her successor as chief executive, Eliane Jackson.
Inside Croydon subscriber Ben Clarke is the lucky winner of a free family ticket to visit the Bluebell in Lavenderland experience at its Epsom site.
