Reform ditch ‘shoot Starmer’ candidate on eve of by-election

On Thursday 14 May, Reform UK is fighting a by-election in South Gloucestershire. Or it was, anyway. Reform has now withdrawn support for candidate Paul Heyward, with no time left for the party to field an alternative.

Heyward was binned after it emerged he had suggested someone shoot Kier Starmer on his since-deleted X account. Given that Heyward’s comments first came to light in April, the question is: why did it take so long to give him the boot?

Reform candidate Paul Heyward, from Winterbourne faces questions over posting 'Somebody shoot this ****' about PM
He has since deleted his account on Xhttps://t.co/siYQfBzVvP

— dave lawrence 🐟🐟🐠 (@dave43law) April 29, 2026

Another one gone

Reform announced it had withdrawn support for Heyward on Tuesday 12 May – two days before the by-election. This means Heyward’s name will still be on the ballot, but if elected, he will not represent Reform. Given this, it’s unclear if he’ll want to sit as an independent or if he’ll immediately resign (should he win). The only other candidate is the Green Party’s Monica Maggs.

As reported by Bristol Live, Heyward’s other problematic posts include:

• Calling Ed Miliband a “mong” (an old-fashioned ableist slur);
• Describing himself as “anti Islam”;
• Being opposed to immigration and transgender people.

Heyward joins a long list of Reform councillors who’ve jumped or been pushed since the 2025 local elections:

Reform UK Councillors Gone: Updated

Paul Heyward has been suspended for social media posts.

➡️ Kicked Out
Brian Black
Oliver Bradshaw
Paul Thomas
Bob Ford
Bill Barratt
Ed Hill
James Regan
Mark Broadhurst
Paul Bean
Adam Smith
Daniel Taylor
John Allen
Nicole Brooke
Patrick…

— Reform Party UK Exposed 🇬🇧 (@reformexposed) May 13, 2026

Perhaps the most surprising thing here is that Reform actually suspended him. As we reported in the runup to the local elections, Reform ran many candidates who said even worse things than Heyward with no action taken:

• Another Reform candidate praises Oswald Moseley – a rite of party initiation?
• Reform candidate wants to ‘tear down’ the NHS
• Another Reform candidate has praised Enoch Powell
• Reform welcomes ‘shoot the p*kis’ scandal ex-Tory
• Reform UK accused of ‘nil vetting’ as another racist candidate exposed

Low quality candidates

While we’re no fans of Keir Starmer, it’s obviously over the line to call for his murder. It’s true that social media has a desensitising effect, which means people fail to realise their words have weight, but that’s no excuse for someone who wants to run for public office.

The people representing us locally and nationally should be of the highest calibre. When it comes to Heyward, however, the man is clearly thinking about a different sort of calibre altogether.

Featured image via The Canary