The former Labour leader of a London council and Britain’s longest serving elected mayor has joined Reform UK.
Sir Robin Wales was deselected by the Labour party in 2018 after 23 years leading Newham Council.
Announcing he was joining Reform, Sir Robin accused the Labour Government of “losing its moral compass” over the NHS and of failing to tackle the housing crisis.
“We have forgotten how to deliver services,” he added.
“Delivering services is how we will connect with the British people.”
He accused the Government of lacking the “courage” to take difficult decisions to get the public finances in order.
Explaining his decision to join Mr Farage’s party, he said: “Reform has got a lot of rough edges.
“But we think there is an opportunity to transform our society...and to try to deliver the services that people need and deserve.”
He branded Zack Polanski’s Green Party as “Labour on steroids” which was peddling “dangerous and evil” policies.
Sir Robin held the directly elected Mayor of Newham position for 16 years, from its creation in 2002 until he was ousted by left-winger Rokhsana Fiaz.
Sir Robin joined Reform alongside Clive Furness, who spent 21 years as a Labour councillor in Canning Town before stepping down in 2018.
Both men announced they had left Labour last month, accusing their former party of shutting down free speech, “financial mismanagement” of the economy and ruining small businesses with rising taxes.
Several Tories including former Cabinet ministers Robert Jenrick and Nadhim Zahawi, as well as Romford MP Andrew Rosindell, have jumped ship to Reform.
Mr Farage is seeking to win councils in the May local elections, with the party’s London mayoral candidate Laila Cunningham leading its campaign.
But a London Labour spokesperson said: “If Clive Furness and Robin Wales count as a ‘major London announcement’, Reform really are scraping the barrel.
“Neither men have been part of the Labour movement for some time.”
Under Sir Robin’s leadership, Newham was transformed, largely down to the regeneration that occurred in areas such as Stratford in the run up to, and aftermath of, the 2012 London Olympics.
He oversaw a nine-year council tax freeze and set up the Every Child initiative, which provided free musical instruments to children in the borough.
But he made enemies within Labour ranks and faced bullying and corruption allegations.
Under Sir Robin, Newham threw £40 million of public money “down the drain” when it backed a flawed deal to turn the Olympic Stadium into West Ham Football Club’s home, an independent report found in 2018.
Sir Robin had promised a £3 million-a-year profit for the town hall from the 2013 agreement to grant a 99-year concession to the Hammers.
But the financial returns never materialised and an independent review by Peter Oldham QC found that the council’s external financial advisers, Navigant, had warned that the stake “was not value for money”.
In total Newham invested £52.2 million in the stadium, injecting a further £12.2 million in working capital between February 2015 and June 2017 before Mayor of London Sadiq Khan was forced to take control of the stadium.
In written evidence to Parliament in 2017, Debt Resistance UK accused Sir Robin of appointing members to well paid council committee roles “in exchange for implicit backing of the Mayor on sensitive issues”.
“At a full council meeting in November 2015, Robin Wales in full view of the public gallery eyeballed his Committee, pointing fingers at potentially wayward members, placing direct pressure on members to vote down calls for Newham Council to open an investigation into LOBO loans,” the campaign group alleged.
Sir Robin’s replacement, Ms Fiaz, will herself step down this year after a number of scandals, including settling an Employment Tribunal claim brought against her own council which saw the local authority agree to pay her £36,000.
A London Labour spokesperson said: “If Clive Furness and Robin Wales count as a ‘major London announcement’, Reform really are scraping the barrel. Neither men have been part of the Labour movement for some time. In Newham, Robin Wales was removed by local members following concerns about his record in office.
“Nigel Farage, Laila Cunningham and their allies spend their time talking London down and attacking the success of one of the most proudly multicultural cities in the world.
“Meanwhile Labour is focused on delivering for London – supporting 240,000 children by ending the two-child cap, cutting energy bills for 3.7 million households, expanding free school meals and breakfast clubs, and strengthening protections for 2.7 million renters.”
