Derbyshire County Council leader believes there is ‘life out there’ during UFO speculation at airforce bases

Derbyshire County Council’s leader believes there ‘must be life out there’ after UFO speculation is running rife following mysterious unexplained drone sightings over the UK at US air force bases.
Cllr Barry Lewis has welcomed more ‘open-minded discussion’ about the possibility of UFOs – unidentified flying objects – or UAPs – Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena – even though there are others who will still not entertain discussing the subject.
The Conservative councillor stated on his X account he has been following the ‘drone flap’ after suspected drone incursions were reported at three US air force bases in the UK including RAF Mildenhall and RAF Lakenheath, in Suffolk, and RAF Feltwell, in Norfolk, with further similar sightings over multiple states in the USA including New Jersey.
Cllr Lewis stated: “I’ve been following with no small amount of fascination the ‘drone flap’ happening in America, in particular around New Jersey, and here recently over our US / UK airbases, such as at Lakenheath, and like many who’ve been following, I’ve been wondering what on earth is going on?”
He added there has been a change in the way this phenomena is being discussed and that ‘disclosure is the new thing’ with the release of more incident footage and ‘whistleblowing’ by former credible US military intelligence and federal intelligence employees with backing from senators and congressmen and women.
Cllr Lewis said this has led to ‘fascinating’ disclosure hearings with some exploring whether governments have captured craft and have been ‘reverse engineering’ them with defence contractors leading to more open discussion.
But he added: “And whilst there’s still some reticence by some press outlets and reporters and governments – or individuals within for fear of looking a bit ‘out there’ – perhaps understandably, about discussing openly or reporting without fear or favour, there is at least a more open-minded discussion about UAPs.
“Indeed short of a tracked interstellar craft landing on the White House lawn and little green men popping out of it for a chat, there will be those who won’t ever entertain the idea of UAPs.”
Cllr Lewis referred to a long history of the unexplained and he suggested that extraordinary phenomena may even display ‘trans-medium capabilities’ or the ability to operate in space, in the earth’s atmosphere and sea in ways that deny any current understanding of physics.
He also mentions Professor Avi Loeb’s declaration that one sighting in our solar system may have been a possible craft leading to Loeb’s Galileo Project which was an active search for physical evidence of intelligent, interstellar visitors.
Cllr Lewis also cited other numerous programmes including the Breakthrough Initiatives funded by Russian billionaire Yuri Milner and which were launched in 2015 in partnership with Professor Stephen Hawking.
He added: “All of this is fascinating. Advances in telescope technology, such as large arrays and the James Webb project and better probes and missions seeking evidence for life within our own solar system all make it feel like – WHEN we discover alien life, not IF.
“And UAPs raise the question, is intelligent alien life already, if somewhat enigmatically, interacting with us? And if there are extraordinary craft on this earth, as there may well seem to be, are they indeed alien or are they of this world?”
In addition, Cllr Lewis said: “The key thing I suppose is the realisation that we live in an unquantifiably vast and unimaginably old universe and there must be other life out there.
“There’s lots of speculation and I hope the evidence and disclosures process does shed light, if indeed there is light to shed, on these topics.
“That brings me back to the ‘drones’ especially over New Jersey, clearly many of the sightings are familiar drones, some are clearly planes and helicopters, but there are certainly ‘drones’ and other objects that defy standard explanations.”
Folklorist and journalist Dr David Clarke, who is also an Associate Professor at Sheffield Hallam University, believes the ‘panic’ about drones is ‘mass hysteria’ and they are most likely aircraft sightings.
However, he believes that people should never be chastised for searching for answers to the unexplained and many ‘pillars of the British establishment’ over the years have unashamedly pressed for explanations including Lord Mountbatten and Lord Peter Hill Norton.
Dr Clarke said: “I think it is a legitimate topic for discussion and we should have hopefully got past the taboo made of this because lots of people think it is an issue that should be addressed by the Government.”
He added politicians have been discussing UFOs for years and the subject has been raised constantly in the House of Lords.
Official UFO files were also released online by The National Archives in 2009 as part of a three-year project between the Ministry of Defence and the National Archives aimed at opening up the records to the world.
The US Department of Defense also has an All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office which states that its mission is to minimize technological and intelligence surprise by detection, identification and mitigation of unidentified anomalous phenomena.
But Dr Clarke told how discussing and reporting UFOs unfortunately does not always go well and without consequences for some high profile figures.
He told how in the 1990’s the former Chairman of Carlisle FC Michael Knighton suffered repercussions after he had reported seeing an an unidentified flying object – simply something in the sky that he could not explain.
Mr Knighton has stated on his website how he was unfairly and wrongly ridiculed in the media and he subsequently even threatened to resign the chairmanship of Carlisle United FC.
Dr Clarke said: “Between one-third and one-half of the population believe UFOs exist and we are being visited by aliens so it is not unusual that politicians like Barry Lewis and military people believe we are being visited, so why is it such a social taboo?”
He added that the late US President Jimmy Carter, who recently died, was also a believer in UFOs and he was the only US President to have officially reported seeing one in 1976 on the campaign trail before he was elected in 1977.
Derbyshire County Cllr Ed Fordham, Group Leader of the council’s Liberal Democrats, questioned Cllr Lewis’ focus on ‘conspiracy theories’ rather than listening to legitimate elected opposition councillors.
Cllr Fordham added that he has ‘often wondered what planet the Tory administration were on’ after they have introduced a number of cuts affecting the most vulnerable.
NE Derbyshire District Cllr Ross Shipman, who is the Group Leader of the Derbyshire Independents, also said: “It seems out of this world to me that Cllr Lewis is spending his time dissecting whether there are alien beings and spacecraft, and he should really be concentrating on dealing with the fundamental issues affecting Derbyshire County Council on funding issues, children services and making sure our roads are in good condition.
“Those are the important things Derbyshire residents want him to focus on, not whether ET exists.”