England: Former Reform UK candidate sues CMS for £400,000 over dismissal for social media posts

Dan Cooper, formerly a senior HR business partner at the firm, was dismissed in March 2025 after CMS became aware of posts on X concerning Islam, transgender rights and other political issues.

Mr Cooper has lodged an employment tribunal claim alleging he was unlawfully discriminated against because of his political beliefs. The case is due to be heard in July 2028.

He told The Telegraph: “I am delighted to now have the opportunity to set the record straight in a court of law and fight for my right to free expression of thought and speech in the workplace.”

The claim follows a series of employment tribunal decisions holding that “gender-critical” and “Islam-critical” beliefs can amount to protected philosophical beliefs under the Equality Act 2010.

According to the report, CMS dismissed Mr Cooper after concluding that a number of his posts were offensive.

Among them, he described himself as “anti Islam”, referred to transgender people as mentally ill and called Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky a “coke addict”.

In one post, he wrote: “I hate Islam. It’s a 7th century barbaric cult. I don’t fear it, I loath [sic] it.”

Responding to a post by Coventry South MP Zarah Sultana, he wrote: “You are a race baiting, uneducated stain on this country.”

He also shared posts arguing that the UK should stop providing financial support to Ukraine.

Mr Cooper had previously been selected to stand for Reform UK in the Boston Borough Council elections before the party suspended his membership. A party spokesman said at the time that he would “never be a candidate for Reform UK”.

Charles Currier, chairman of CMS, previously said the firm had taken “decisive action as soon as we learnt about the nature of the offensive remarks, including clarifying that the views do not represent those of the firm”.

In a crowdfunding appeal to fund his legal action, Mr Cooper said: “My Islam critical beliefs are towards the ideology of Islam, not an attack on Muslims as individuals.

“I simply expressed protected views about matters of public debate – outside of work as part of my political campaigning – and for this I was dismissed and lost my livelihood that had taken so long to build.”