Nigel Farage’s business-cum-party is trying to distance itself from controversial Coulsdon resident, as they struggle to establish any credibility in Croydon, where they have no mayoral candidate and are on to their third branch chair since June

Coulsdon clown: Peter Morgan

An official from Reform UK’s Croydon branch says his group will investigate claims from party members over the conduct of motoring lobbyist Peter Morgan, as reported by Inside Croydon.

This website’s exclusive reports over the past week have detailed Morgan’s chequered political past, which has seen him expelled from the Conservatives and even UKIP.

iC also reported how Morgan has harassed Reform members in Croydon for their personal data and deluged them with emails on a range of policy initiatives, especially transport.

Morgan has spent much of the past 30 years using whatever platform he has been given to campaign against most public transport, but especially the Croydon tram network which provides a vital link for New Addington residents into central Croydon and beyond.

New Addington’s four council seats are Reform targets at next May’s Town Hall elections.

“Peter shouldn’t be anywhere near politics regardless of the level,” was the opinion of one Reform member to contact Inside Croydon. “He is dangerous.

“He has been allowed by the powers-that-be to run a policy forum and a campaign meeting for Croydon South.”

Reform members have criticised Morgan’s conduct at those meetings. “He is rude and intimidating and seemingly unable to accept a differing opinion to his own.

Lurking in the background: Peter Morgan was a regular figure campaigning for the Conservatives, rejoining the Tories after being expelled

“While I agree that heated debate does happen between people in politics. Peter takes this to a whole other level.

“He can be nasty.”

Now, Dan Tebbutt, who describes himself as Reform UK Croydon branch’s chair, has responded to our latest report about Morgan and his arrest in 2022 in connection with an on-going Met Police investigation (Morgan was later released without charge).

Tebbutt said: “The allegations published have been forwarded to party officials and will be investigated.”

Tebbutt’s statement sought to distance Reform from Morgan and his positions on public transport faster than a rush-hour tram clattering down Gravel Hill.

“It is not, and never has been, Reform Croydon policy to reduce or remove any form of public transport. In contrast, we believe that public transport is vital for the local economy and for Croydon residents,” Tebbutt said in a hastily scrambled together statement issued late on Friday.

Reform’s pick: Sharon Carby died in 2024. Reform picked her as Croydon’s mayoral candidate six months later

Tebbutt’s statement strongly suggests that Morgan over-reached himself when he signed his emails to members as “REF London data analyst”. Tebbutt described the role as “fiction and doesn’t exist within the party”.

And Tebbutt provided a policy pledge over the tram system: “Reform Croydon pledge to protect Croydon’s public transport network, including the tram network which is operated by TfL.”

Morgan’s activities at Reform UK meetings are just the latest crisis to hit grifter Nigel Farage’s business-cum-party in Croydon, as they struggle to establish any credibility amid their party’s series of scandals and incompetence.

Inside Croydon revealed how, at the beginning of this year, Farage’s party HQ had imposed a mayoral candidate on Croydon, Sharon Carby, from Bradford. The only problem was that 70-year-old Carby had died in September 2024…

Less than six months before the 2026 local elections, Reform UK remains without a mayoral candidate. Or a mayoral candidate with a pulse, anyway.

Tebbutt’s statement on Friday also revealed that Reform in Croydon are on to their third chairperson in barely a year, a sign of constant churn which betrays that all is less-than-straightforward for Farage’s supporters in this part of London.

Reform sources suggest that the party has fewer than 150 members in Croydon.

Their Facebook page has just 101 followers (and several of those are other Croydon politicos, curious to see what Farage’s mob is up to). Croydon Reform party meetings, held in ‘Spoons pubs or local curry houses, rarely attract more than 20 people.

Vanished: Scott Holman was Reform Croydon and Sutton’s chair, replaced without explanation in June

As recently as October 2024, it was announced that Scott Holman was to be the chair of the newly established Croydon and Sutton branch of Reform. Holman had been the party’s candidate in Croydon East in the July 2024 General Election, coming third, and taking enough votes off the Tories to ensure that they did not win the seat now represented by Labour’s Natasha Irons.

He was described by other candidates in the General Election as the only Reform candidate in Croydon to do anything resembling campaigning.

Then, on June 26 this year, an official-looking press release was issued by Nik Stewert to announce that he was now chair of Reform in Croydon. No explanation was offered for the change.

Stewert was previously chair of Croydon’s Conservative Federation. Croydon Tories who remember his brief time in office describe Stewert as “delusional” and “a bit of a nutter”.

It was Stewert who determined that Reform Croydon would not respond to questions from Inside Croydon.

Stewert lasted only four months in post. “That’s one month more than he managed when chairman of Croydon Conservatives,” one snarky local Tory confided.

It was only last month when it was announced that Tebbutt was to be Croydon Reform’s deputy chair. He appears to have enjoyed a rapid promotion, and now has to deal with the Morgan situation.

Tebbutt may lack the steady and reliable political judgement and experience that Reform in Croydon might need just now.

According to his own online profile, Tebbutt is somewhat Morgan-like in being a “party-hopper”. So far, Tebbutt has been a Corbyn-supporting member of Labour, then an independent, later joining the Conservatives, then returning to Labour, and now he’s Reform’s leader in Croydon.

Tebbutt was in his teens when he first joined Labour, winning a council seat for them in North West Leicestershire aged 18.

Rapid promotion: Daniel Tebbutt is a bit of a party-hopper

He’s also a former vice-chair of the Civil Service LGBT+ Network.

Tebbutt moved to Croydon in 2022, which was when he rejoined the Labour Party, “As I thought that was where I belonged.” Yep, that’s right: the Croydon Labour Party which had bankrupted the borough… Maybe young Daniel didn’t realise he was walking into a lions’ den?

But in a recent interview, Tebbutt claimed that he got involved in Croydon Labour campaigns, “Even writing a policy document!”, and became a party official. “I applied to be a councillor and was offered an interview,” he said. Tebbutt’s conversion to Reform, therefore, must have come very recently, he says prompted by his disgust and distrust of Starmer’s government.

Since 2019, Tebbutt has worked as a prison officer and then as a work coach at the DWP. Tebbutt’s most recent job was as a taxman, working for HM Revenue and Customs since 2021. But he left HMRC last month, and now describes himself as “a partly-qualified Chartered Accountant”, without any job.

Dealing with the Peter Morgan situation and Reform’s ghostly mayoral candidate should keep him plenty busy for the time being, though.

Read more: Worries over ‘nasty’ Peter Morgan’s part in Croydon Reform UK
Read more: Reform party official wants to scrap vital New Addington trams
Read more: Coulsdon West residents in move to kick out plotter Morgan
Read more: Lobbyist Morgan threatens to block car-free zones near schools

• Inside Croydon – as seen on TV! – has been delivering local community news since 2010. 3million page views per year in 2020, 2021 and 2022.
• If you want real journalism, actually based in the borough, you should consider paying for it. Please sign up today. Click here for more details

• If you have a news story about life in or around Croydon, or want to publicise your residents’ association or business, or if you have a local event to promote, please email us with full details at inside.croydon@btinternet.com

• As featured on Google News Showcase

• We offer FREE ads to community groups when they have members who are paid subscribers to Inside Croydon

• Inside Croydon is a member of the Independent Community News Network

• Our comments section on every report provides all readers with an immediate “right of reply” on all our content. Our comments policy can be read by clicking here