Finch was a member of the
Conservative Party prior to the
2024 general election, but has variously said he was "kicked out" of the party and that he left because he felt frustrated because he saw "no traction in the way to stop illegal immigration". On 25 June 2025, Howard resigned as council leader for health reasons, leading to the then-18-year-old Finch serving as interim leader. He was confirmed as permanent leader on 22 July after Conservative councillors abstained, leading to a tie that was resolved by the council chairman and Reform member, Edward Harris. and faced criticism from opposition politicians due to his age and lack of experience. In August 2025, he published a letter on social media where he accused
Warwickshire Police of covering up that the suspects of an alleged rape were asylum seekers, risking a charge of
contempt of court. It was later revealed that the two men were Afghan asylum seekers living in a local
house in multiple occupation. The
Home Secretary also appealed for the police to be more transparent in cases such as this. Following his election as council leader, Finch embroiled himself in a disagreement with the council's chief executive, Monica Fogarty, over the flying of a
Pride Progress flag outside the council building. He asked for the flag to be removed, but Fogarty rejected his request. This prompted Reform's leader,
Nigel Farage, to suggest it was time she "looked for another job". At a meeting on 4 September, Finch's cabinet voted to strip the chief executive of responsibility for deciding what flags can be flown outside its building, and handed the decision to the council's chairman. On 25 September, Judy Falp, a fellow Warwickshire councillor, told a council meeting the "matter was handled very badly", particularly as Finch had chosen not to support the chief executive. In September 2025 he addressed an event at his party's annual conference titled "The lost boys: a response to the crisis facing young men", held in Birmingham, where he describing
sixth form education as a "complete joke" that helps teenagers to develop a "woke mindset", and called for the teaching of subjects such as engineering and design technology. In a
Daily Mail article published on 13 October 2025, Finch alleged he was called a "racist" and a "fascist" and assaulted during a confrontation a few days earlier in
Nuneaton, and blamed what he called "the dangerous rhetoric of Labour and the Greens" for the incident. In October 2025, Finch wrote to Bridget Phillipson, the Secretary of State for Education, seeking permission to launch a review of the rules governing pupils' eligibility for home to school transport in Warwickshire, arguing that allowing local authorities to set the criteria for eligibility could save money. Phillipson criticised the move as an attempt to take "children back to the Victorian era" when it emerged that a review could see children as young as eight having to walk up to five miles a day to and from school. Finch subsequently accused Phillipson of using his letter as a "political football" to attack both him and Warwickshire County Council, telling
BBC CWR: "People have said I want to increase [the statutory distance] to five miles. I don't. I never said I want to. All I did was send a letter to the Secretary of State asking for more devolved powers.". On 19 February 2026, Finch expelled councillors Scott Cameron and Luke Cooper from the Reform UK group amid accusations they were about to defect to
Restore Britain, a party that had been launched by former Reform MP
Rupert Lowe a few days earlier. On 9 March, Warwickshire County Council's
Green Party members asked for a
vote of no confidence in Finch after accusing him of bringing the authority "into disrepute" and "[abusing] the office of leader". Finch dismissed the attempt as a "political stunt". On 17 March, Finch survived the vote of no confidence by one vote after Warwickshire County Councillors voted 27–26 against the motion. Speaking after the vote, Finch said he did not want to "waste any more time" discussing it. On 16 March, Finch announced he would stand as a candidate in the
2026 Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council election. == Code of conduct investigations ==