Darren Grimes: councillor when it suits him. Deputy Leader of @DurhamCouncil Councillor, Reform UK’s @DarrenGrimes. Deputy Leader, Reform UK’s Darren Grimes. Darren Grimes. Darren Grimes who was suspended at GBNews after “incessant” calls (sometimes dozens in a single day) to a junior staff member. He also made unwelcome invitations to his hotel room. Darren Grimes who then moved on from GBNews abruptly. Darren Grimes who constantly posts content that has been shown to be misinformation, AI generated - always with the intention of stoking fear across myriad issues. Mostly asylum seekers. Grimes has removed references to being a councillor and Deputy Leader from his public social-media profiles. First, in 2025 when he was recently elected he realised quickly that not having ‘Councillor’ in his bio / name was a great way to pretend his risqué posts were in a personal capacity (coincidently his council based posts - which are few and far between, are also seemingly done in a personal capacity). Yesterday, when challenged about it on X, Andrew Husband (@ReformDurham) replied: “To stop people like you putting in vexatious complaints to his employer.” An extraordinary admission. Husband considers the complaints vexatious, but he nevertheless appears to confirm that the references were removed specifically to make complaints harder. And Durham’s own standards process shows why that matters. A previous complaint against Grimes was rejected partly because the post appeared under “Darren Grimes”, did not identify him as a councillor and was therefore judged to fall outside the Members’ Code. When Grimes later explicitly presented himself as a Reform UK councillor in an AI asylum video, the complaint was considered through the standards process. So the practical effect is obvious. Grimes has also faced criticism over his “dinghy to Dover” post involving non-white passengers, a claim that police had advised him not to hold in-person surgeries which police later disputed, and repeated Code of Conduct complaints which he dismisses as political “lawfare”. The question is simple: If you are Deputy Leader of a council, Reform UK’s Councillor Darren Grimes, should you really be able to strip your office from your online identity when scrutiny becomes inconvenient?