Reform UK have been accused of a Monty Python-style farce on Kent County Council after two of their expelled councillors formed a rival “Independent Reformers Group”.
The party has so far lost 15 per cent of the councillors it had elected onto the council in May, including another councillor whose suspension emerged on Thursday morning.
Kent County Council is one of the largest local authorities in the country and has been described by senior Reform figures as the party’s “flagship council”.
In the local elections, Reform swept 57 of its 81 seats and considers the well-running of the council as key to their hopes nationally in order to prove they can be trusted in power.
However, since then, the Reform group has been wracked by infighting and allegations of misconduct. It has so far lost nine councillors through a combination of defection, suspensions and expulsions.
Damaging video
Last month, a video was leaked of a fractious online meeting of the group from August in which councillors could be hard complaining about “backbiting” and being ignored by their leader, Linden Kemkaran.
In response, Kemkaran told her colleagues that if they disagreed with her decisions, they would have to “f*****g suck it up”.
After the leaking of the video, Reform announced that it was expelling five councillors – Bill Barrett, Robert Ford, Oliver Bradshaw, Brian Black and Paul Thomas – for bringing it into “disrepute” and displaying a “lack of integrity”.
Cllr Linden KemKaran, Leader of Kent County Council, speaking at Ashford International station in Kent (Photo: Gareth Fuller/PA)Ford had already been suspended in relation to an “unofficial complaint” from several female members of staff. He said at the time that it was a “surprise” to hear a complaint had been made and that he was “looking to take legal action against those complaining” because it was a “slur on my character”.
Another councillor, Maxine Fothergill, was also suspended over the leaked video and is still sitting as an independent.
The party lost Amelia Randall, the councillor for Birchington and Rural, after she defected from Reform to Nigel Farage’s former party, UKIP.
Daniel Taylor, the councillor elected for Cliftonville, was suspended after he was investigated by the police and later charged with threatening to kill his wife and sending an offensive, indecent, obscene or menacing message.
The trial is due to take place next year and he denies the charges.
Finally, on Thursday it emerged a ninth councillor, Isabella Kemp, was no longer in the party and instead listed on the council’s website as an independent.
Threats of legal action
The BBC reported on Thursday morning that Kemp said she had been suspended by Reform and was considering legal action. The i Paper has contacted Reform and Kemp for comment.
Among the ructions, two of the former councillors – Barrett and Ford – have set up a rival Independent Reformers Group on the council.
Other party leaders in KCC were formally informed by the council via email on Tuesday night that the group had been established.
The move has been greeted with derision by the Liberal Democrats, who likened it to the factionalism satirised in Monty Python’s Life of Brian in the form of the People’s Front of Judea and the Judean People’s Front.
Anthony Hook, the Lib Dem leader of the opposition on KCC, said: “Reform have no idea what they are doing. They have already descended into factions and infighting. Instead of running a council in desperate need of leadership, they are busy recreating Monty Python’s back catalogue. Next, we’ll have the Reformers Independent Group as well.”
A similar development has occurred on Cornwall County Council, where five councillors exited Reform last month to create a ‘Cornish Independent Non-Aligned Group’.
Reform UK have been approached for comment
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