Reform leader of Leicestershire County Council resigns after leak of staff remarks recording

Dan Harrison, who had led Leicestershire County Council since May 2025, announced his departure after a social media post of a recording in which he spoke about cutting 76 lawyers and made remarks about women. His deputy Kevin Crook became acting leader; Harrison remains a councillor for the Ashby-de-la-Zouch division.

Aziz KarimovFirst published on tafs uz 2 November 2026 at 22:582 min read

The key facts

Dan Harrison left the post of leader of Leicestershire County Council on 2 November 2026 after a leak of a recording from a Reform party meeting
In the recording he spoke about cutting 76 council lawyers, calling them 'incompetent', and about plans to 'have a look at the women'
Deputy Kevin Crook has been appointed acting leader; Harrison remains an ordinary councillor

Resignation after a recording leak

Dan Harrison, the Reform UK leader of Leicestershire County Council, announced on 2 November 2026 that he was stepping down from the post he had held since May 2025. According to him, the decision was made after consultations with senior party colleagues; the deputy council leader, Kevin Crook, has become acting leader. Harrison retains his seat as councillor for the Ashby-de-la-Zouch division. This was reported by BBC News.

What was said in the recording

The trigger was a recording made on Tuesday at a closed meeting of the Reform group and then circulated on social media. In it, Harrison says that 76 of the council's lawyers will be cut, calls them 'incompetent' and states: 'Now I want to have a look at the women,' adding that with sharp mass redundancies 'the liberals will go.' Harrison apologised to staff but insisted his words had been taken out of context: according to him, he gave no instructions to officials and staffing decisions are not made on the basis of gender.

Opposition pressure and a change of position

As recently as Monday morning, Harrison told the BBC that he did not intend to resign, but later changed his mind after a conversation with Crook and the party whip, Andrew Hamilton-Grey. The council's 15 Conservatives demanded his resignation and initiated an emergency vote on removing him. Conservative group leader Deborah Taylor said Harrison's position had become 'untenable' after the leak and stressed that 'there remain questions that need answering.' Reform remains the largest group and runs the council as a minority administration. Notably, the resignation came against the backdrop of other scandals surrounding the council: in recent days the BBC also reported on sanctions against a councillor for breaches of the code of conduct, and earlier the council announced £60m of savings.