There are few political careers that have enjoyed such spectacular rises and falls as that of Alan Amos, who is now set to become Reform’s second leader of Worcestershire County Council in less than twelve months.
Back in 1992 when Alan was a mere stripling of a Tory MP, it seemed that the story of his political journey would be cut short, after he was found enjoying the company of another man behind a pub on Hampstead Heath, in a state of undress. By the police.
Police caution
Unfortunate timing, as John Major was then campaigning on a platform of bringing morality back into public life.
So when Alan was arrested and accepted a police caution for his antics, the local Conservative Association decided that while their seat was safe from Labour, it probably wasn’t safe from Alan – and promptly sacked him as a candidate.
He then spent several years in the political wilderness, bizarrely joining the Labour Party in 1994, and even more bizarrely getting elected as a Labour councillor in Tower Hamlets in 2002.
Revenge was his! The Tories would regret crossing Alan Amos!
Alan next resurfaced in Warndon, a council ward here in Worcester, getting himself elected in 2008 to the city council. But controversy never seemed to leave him far behind, as he continued to make bizarre comments and proposals – not least of which was the suggestion that Worcester be twinned with Gaza.
But by 2014, he was bored with Labour.
Quit Labour
Churlishly, they had not seen fit to nominate him as Mayor of Worcester – imagine! – so he quit the party to become an Independent.
At the same Council AGM where he made that swap, he also accepted the Conservative nomination to become Mayor, and immediately used his casting vote to ensure they would take control of the council from Labour.
Revenge was his! Again! Take that Labour!
In the closing hours of his term as Mayor of Worcester, Alan announced he would rejoin the Conservative Party – a move that absolutely everyone saw coming.
Accomplishments
During his second phase as a Tory councillor, he racked up a memorable list of accomplishments. Such as the times when:
- He suggested it was far too easy for women to report allegations of rape.
- He suggested that money ringfenced to support Ukrainian refugees instead be spent on dog bins.
- He suggested using shotguns as a means of controlling the local seagull population.
He made himself a major headache for his party’s leadership, taking up a cabinet position first as a member for Economic Prosperity and Tourism, and then for Highways. Excelling in neither, he soon lost both of these jobs, and found himself relegated to the back benches.
Independent again
Shortly afterwards, he announced he would, once more, sit as an independent.
But not to worry, he would soon have his revenge. Again.
In the run up to the local elections in 2025, Alan rubbished any suggestion that he was thinking of joining the upstart Reform UK party.
He didn’t need to, he said, as he was such a popular local independent.
Joined Reform
Then, only four months after leaving the Tories, he joined Reform, and won his seat back. Did you see that coming?
But Alan is rarely happy for long.
And while he clearly enjoyed the destruction of his former Tory Party, he obviously hoped he would be given a leadership position within his new Reform UK group.
After all, he had made disobliging comments about disabled people at the AGM and everything!
What more could you want in a Reform UK councillor?
Plotting downfall
But he was passed over yet again. So Alan got to work, plotting the downfall of his new leader, Jo Monk.
Alan began briefing against his own colleagues behind the scenes, openly rubbishing Reform at the county council.
He was frustrated! He was angry! He was disappointed! And when Reform UK put up our council taxes by 9%, it was nothing to do with him.
The only pauses he took were to deliver some truly objectionable public statements:
- Like how disabled people were faking it to sponge off the benefits system
- Or scaremongering about the Fownes Hotel and asylum seekers in Worcester
- Or downplaying the seriousness of mental health diagnoses
After all, what self-respecting Reform UK leader-wannabe applies for the job without stuffing his CV full of such comments?
The real deal
Last Friday, all the plotting, and the flood of fluff pieces in the local newspaper all about Alan, culminated in an internal vote, where Reform UK councillors decided to make him their leader, supplanting Jo Monk.
After all, she’s damaged goods. He’s the real deal.
And at long last, Alan Amos had his revenge. Again.
But there is a serious point to all of this:
Alan Amos was Reform before Reform was a thing. He was a Trumpist before Trump had come along to provide shape and vocabulary to the aimless rage that characterises the extreme right.
To give credit where it is due, Alan has an uncanny knack for identifying people’s frustrations, and hijacking them.
For those of us on the progressive side of politics, cases like Alan’s might be funny, might be bizarre, but we should remind ourselves that he is a master of getting himself elected.
Is it likely that he will hold onto power for long, now he has seized the leadership? No.
Reform’s governing position in Worcestershire has in fact never looked weaker than it does today. But does that mean we get to ignore him, and hope that this is where his story ends? Absolutely not.
Even if Alan were to disappear from the scene tomorrow, he has blazed a trail that other right-wing populists and nutters will seek to follow.
The challenge before us is to work out how to put decency back into our politics.
