Token feminism in action as misogynistic Reform appoints first female in cabinet

Nigel Farage‘s Reform UK has appointed the first woman to sit in a cabinet position, as Ella Worthington takes responsibility for ‘civic pride’ on Lancashire County Council.

However, critics have pointed out how there is very little known about the responsibilities of this newly created cabinet role. As a result, people have looked at the billionaire-funded party’s misogynistic and patriarchal rhetoric and raised concerns that this is merely smoke and mirrors.

Former Labour councillor-turned-independent Azhar Ali, and leader of the opposition on the county council told the BBC:

I think this is just a tokenistic gesture, no one knows what the role is or what the job entails.

Worthington won the election last year in the county elections and has since faced criticism for her posts that many have described as hateful and derogatory towards the UK’s Muslim population.

In particular, she slammed news of the first Mosque in the Lake District and implied it was being forced through:

will turn a natural, beautiful place into something it’s not.

Local Election Results 2026 – Old Skelmersdale

Ella Worthington has been elected.

Reform UK gain. #WestLancsElects #LocalElections pic.twitter.com/oUU0d7NtNZ

— West Lancashire Borough Council (@Westlancsbc) May 8, 2026

Reform — 33% turnout

Worthington won the local election on May 7, which saw a 33% turnout and just shy of 43% of the votes going to this Reform councillor. Reform UK has typically framed this as a gain, unsurprisingly, and some argue that point may carry weight, given that Reform councillors often defect, face suspension, or come under investigation for various forms of misconduct. Few of its councillors secure re-election.

Possibly a perk of being a misogynised woman, and not a misogynistic man with a shady and abusive past like David Barker.

Nevertheless, this councillor has been more than comfortable to inflame divisions pushing racial abuse through her social media.

For instance, she attempted to whip up hate — and succeeded as this Mosque has faced attacks from the far-right meant to intimidate Muslims — with this post on X last year:

Reform UK Lancashire County Councillor and Scrutiny Deputy Chair Ella Worthington sharing an old post by the Leader of UKIP.

The mosque site in question has been target by the far right because of posts like this.@LancashireCC, this is one to investigate. @reformparty_uk do… pic.twitter.com/VamJS1ZQ0m

— Reform Party UK Exposed 🇬🇧 (@reformexposed) August 13, 2025

Now she is responsible for ‘civic pride’, it isn’t hard to recognise whose ‘pride’ this position is there to represent – that of racist white supremacists. As a result, it is essential that this councillor face scrutiny herself – something she should hardly oppose given her prior role as deputy chair for scrutiny of the county council.

Worthington defended the new role, telling the BBC:

It’s all about civic pride across Lancashire, giving people a voice, giving them pride in where they live, helping institutions and business move forward, giving people civic pride and the love of the area that they live in.

It’s not about religion, it’s about white supremacy

However, Muslim people and other minoritised groups also live within the ward, raising questions over whether this will lead to an increase in race-baiting in the northwest ward. In regard to the population breakdown, migrants from the EU far outnumber any other group with only 118 living in the area with a religion other than Christianity.

Nevertheless, it is worth noting that Christianity and the teachings of Jesus tend to talk about welcoming strangers and being kind to our neighbours, as opposed to setting out to increase local divisions.

But let’s not pretend that Britain’s ‘Christian values’ have anything to do with Reform UK, as this post underscores:

Reform has no answers over Farage photo with church attackershttps://t.co/ZH9vkbn4Hs

— Reform Party UK Exposed 🇬🇧 (@reformexposed) May 7, 2026

Reform’s Worthington has the ‘right skills’ for what exactly?

Reform UK took control of the council last year, and many expressed surprise at the complete lack of female representation on its cabinet. At the time, leader of the council Stephen Atkinson said:

I’m sure that some of the ladies of the group will be useful in the future at the cabinet level, but when the skills are the right skills.

Like many, we are a bit unsure what skills women lack to be able to work in a cabinet in local council — especially when every other party has had no trouble in putting women in these positions in the past and currently. This surely can only highlight what we have all been saying — or shouting into an apparent void — that Reform are just the amalgamation of toxic masculinity, patriarchy and frankly, a bunch of women-hating men often found to have pretty abusive histories. 

Atkinson has spoken since her appointment, saying:

I’m delighted to have Ella on board to deliver this initiative, she works incredibly hard and is passionate about delivering for our communities across Lancashire.

Given Worthington’s clear Islamophobic tendencies, it isn’t hard to identify the skills which have ‘qualified’ her for a cabinet position:

Reform MP openly downplays racist colleague's comments pic.twitter.com/9fRfR2gTIl

— Canary (@TheCanaryUK) May 10, 2026

Racists are ripping off councils — first flags, now ‘civic pride’

Funnily enough, cabinet posts add a tidy £23,597 over and above the basic councillor allowance of £14,301. However, this ‘civic pride’ role is brand new and precious little is known about what it is intended to do.

According to the BBC, opposition leader Ali would have preferred that money go to people who actually do ‘proper jobs’ and finally address significant issues in their community affecting people’s quality of life:

It’s all smoke and mirrors, what we need is real people doing some proper jobs and making sure roads are fit for a purpose, weeding, gullies emptied and the basic things that residents want.

Therefore, is this not simply another example of Reform wasting public money as it conducts an inciteful and incendiary campaign that blames ordinary people for the public’s woes, instead of the super-rich who fleece them every day and now lead political parties to preserve the status quo?

Once again, ordinary people will face higher costs at a local level while a small minority of millionaires and billionaires benefit, leaving everyone else with harder lives and, potentially, more divided and violent communities.

Featured image via Facebook