The Durham Miners' Association has refused to invite leading Reform UK figures including Nigel Farage to their 139th annual gala - despite the party's landslide victory in the county's council election.
The historic event, scheduled for July 12, will not welcome any Reform UK representatives, including council leader-in-waiting Andrew Husband and his deputy Darren Grimes.
Reform won 65 of the 98 council seats on the local authority this month, but DMA General Secretary Alan Mardghum has taken a firm stance against their participation.
The Gala, dating back to 1871, has been described as the "biggest working class demonstration and event in the world".
The Durham Miners' Association has refused to invite leading Reform UK figures including Nigel Farage to their gala
DURHAM MINERS' ASSOCIATION
Alan Mardghum, who has led the DMA since 2019, told LBC: "Nigel Farage will never, ever, ever be invited" to the Gala, adding he "wouldn't get a good reception".
The former miner also warned that if his group "ever contemplated" inviting Reform, he would boycott the event himself.
"I wouldn't share a platform with any of them. There's no way, no way they'll ever get an invite from Durham Miners' Association," Mardghum spat.
He described the gala as "a war, an act of defiance and resistance to the pain of successive Government policies impacting the mining community."
LATEST ON REFORM UK:
'As the grandson of a Durham miner, I find it frankly insulting to be excluded from the Gala,' Reform's Darren Grimes blasted
PA
Though the event is "one of joy, love and compassion" where "everybody will be welcome with open arms," he said he "wouldn't share a platform with any of them".
In April, the DMA published a message urging members not to vote for Farage's party, stating: "Reform are not on your side."
The association listed seven reasons why Farage's track record "does not make pleasant reading for workers," including his opposition to taxing "very rich corporations" and support for replacing the NHS with healthcare insurance.
The DMA also poured scorn on Farage's support for Margaret Thatcher - the Reform boss had said in the past that the Iron Lady "was right", and that closing the mines "may have caused a little pain for some, but it had to happen".
The DMA also poured scorn on Farage's support for Margaret Thatcher
GETTYBut Durham County Council's deputy leader, former Saturday Five star Darren Grimes, has hit back.
"As the grandson of a Durham miner, I find it frankly insulting to be excluded from the Gala," he said.
"Reform UK's landslide majority was delivered by the very communities this event claims to celebrate. To shut us out is a slap in the face to the working-class people of Durham who put their faith in us."
"The Durham Miners' Gala should be a celebration of Durham's grit and graft - not a stage for political relics like Mardghum to cling to a labour movement that abandoned its people long ago."
In a later social media video, Grimes blasted Reform's snub as "petty and spiteful".
