CMS: Offensive remarks
Top City law firm CMS has taken “prompt and decisive action” after learning that a senior member of its HR team, a prospective Reform UK councillor, had posted anti-Islamic and anti-transgender comments on X.
Dan Cooper’s X profile said: “Family man. Professional. Film Maker. Anti Islam. Only two genders. Pro UK farming. Reform candidate for Boston Coastal Lincolnshire.” That is in deputy leader Richard Tice MP’s constituency.
He made no reference on X to his work for the law firm, nor on LinkedIn to his political views.
The connection was made by a social media account called ‘Reform Party UK Exposed’. Our investigation showed that the account ‘Danable64’ only started tweeting on 20 December last year, not long before he was confirmed at a Reform UK candidate, but was prolific thereafter.
The account was deleted last week, shortly after our first enquiry about it to CMS, while yesterday his LinkedIn profile was too after a story by another publication went live.
Responding to one X user’s question ‘What do you feel when someone calls you Islamophobic’, he replied: “Nothing, because it isn’t a thing. It’s a made-up word. I hate Islam. It’s a 7th century barbaric cult. I don’t fear it. I loath it.”
In another tweet, he wrote: “If you are over 18 and think you are transgender then you have a mental illness. If you are 8 and think you are transgender your parents have a mental illness.”
A tweet last week about immigration said: “This has to stop. Only @reformparty_uk will stop this invasion.”
CMS refused to confirm if Mr Cooper has left the firm, although Financial News London reported that he had.
Our efforts since last week to contact Mr Cooper have been unsuccessful, while operators on the CMS switchboard said he was unavailable.
He described himself on LinkedIn as a senior HR business partner and a ‘wellbeing ambassador’ who had worked for CMS since September 2012. Earlier in his career, he was head of HR at now-defunct London law firm Jeffrey Green Russell.
In a statement, CMS said: “We took prompt and decisive action as soon as we learnt about the nature of the individual’s offensive remarks on social media.
“The views expressed on their personal social media accounts are their own and do not represent those of the firm.
“At CMS we are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all our colleagues and we will be supporting all the individuals affected by this.”
