Reform Expels 3 More

Reform UK expelled another three county councillors from the party on Monday afternoon alleging “a pattern of dishonest and deceptive behaviour”.

The dismissals of Cllrs Brian Black, Paul Thomas and Oliver Bradshaw brings to five the number of expulsions from the Kent County Council group in the space of four days. 

Reform UK's group on the council has dropped from 57 to 49 in just six months.

Of the 5 expelled councillors, four represent county council wards in Maidstone.

Cllr Black's expulsion came out of the blue.  He hadn't previously been suspended.

Cllr Black (pictured below) was the Chair of the Kent Fire and rescue Authority and represents Maidstone Rural South, which includes Staplehurst and Marden.

The KCC leadership has been embroiled in controversy since the Guardian published a leaked video of Cllr Kemkaran swearing and raising her voice during a virtual meeting.

Within hours of the piece going live on Saturday October 18, the leader promised to hunt down the culprits.

Initially, Cllrs Thomas, Bradshaw, Bill Barrett and Maxine Fothergill were suspended.

Since then, Cllr Barrett and Cllr Robert Ford were dismissed on Friday but not for leaking the video.

The party has not specified what the councillors are alleged to have done.

A short statement from Reform UK on Monday afternoon said: “At the request of the leader of Kent County Council, Cllr Black and Cllr Thomas were invited to meet with officials from Reform HQ in order to find a way forward for all involved.

“Following this meeting, a decision has been made to expel Cllr Black, Cllr Thomas and Cllr Bradshaw from the party after they displayed a lack of integrity.

“These individuals have shown a pattern of dishonest and deceptive behaviour which the party will not tolerate from its elected officials.”

Cllr Bradshaw declined to comment. 

West Kent Radio's MARTIN WEBBER ADDS:

The leader Linden Kemkaren represents Maidstone South East and surprisingly many of her issues appear to relate to her Reform councillors representing neighbouring wards in Maidstone area.

Of the 5 expelled councillors, four represent Maidstone county council wards.
Brian Black - Maidstone Rural South,
Oliver Bradshaw - Maidstone Central,
Robert Ford - Maidstone Rural West (including Yalding)
Paul Thomas - Maidstone South

County Cllr Mark Hood of the Green Party pointed out: "It isn't only affecting KCC, four of the expelled Reform cllrs are also members of the Kent Fire and Rescue Authority, including its Chair, they will all have to be replaced if they are no longer Reform members."

Having won 57 seats out of 81 on Kent County Council, Reform UK have lost 8 councillors (expelled or suspended):
10 June: Daniel Taylor suspended after being investigated by police
8 Sept: Amelia Randall defected to UKIP
20 Oct: 4 councillors suspended following video leak
24 Oct: Bill Barrett and Robert Ford expelled (Robert Ford had been suspended on 13 Oct)
27 Oct: Brian Black, Paul Thomas and Oliver Bradshaw expelled
27 Oct: Maxine Fothergill remains suspended

The tally of 81 councillors on KCC is now: 
Reform 49, Independent 7, UKIP 1,
Lib Dem 12, Conservative 5,
Greens 5, Labour 2

SIMON FINLAY of the Local Democracy Reporting service writes:
Earlier on Monday, Embattled Reform UK council leader Linden Kemkaran broke her silence over a leaked video of her swearing and shouting at members which has plunged her administration into crisis.

Cllr Kemkaran used a letter to 13 other authority leaders to explain the embarrassing revelations which have dominated the headlines for 10 days.

She said the video, published by a national newspaper, was of a private meeting which, by its nature, “must be robust and frank” but is “first and foremost to be an internal group matter”.

The video saw heated exchanges, especially over the Cllr Kemkaran’s decision making on the forthcoming local government reorganisation (LGR).

But Cllr Kemkaran, who represents the Maidstone South East division, repeated her earlier accusation of other Kent leaders’ “shocking level of ignorance” at the probable cost of LGR.

One Kent leader described her letter as “quite obnoxious” while another said she should take care of her own “shambolic” administration before criticising others.

In her letter dated October 24 and seen by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, she wrote: “I am sure that you all, as Leaders, have experienced political group discussions that, given their private nature, must be robust and frank. That is especially true for a new political group that has the responsibility for running the largest county council in the country, with all the challenges and issues that entails.”

Cllr Kemkaran said the “leaked footage…was not a constituted KCC meeting, nor was it supported by KCC officers. It was a private Reform Group meeting, and everyone in that meeting had the right to expect that the views expressed would remain private to the Reform group.

“As such, I consider this first and foremost to be an internal Group matter. But I am aware that the leaked footage has caused concern amongst some Kent Leaders about KCC’s intention or approach to LGR.”

The leader said her beliefs had not changed.

Cllr Kemkaran continues: “But whilst Labour Ministers continue to press ahead with this policy, I am determined that KCC should be part of  the process.

“I do feel there is a shocking level of ignorance from many Kent Leaders about the scale of the costs that are likely to incur to the council taxpayer from disaggregation of county level of services into smaller unitary councils.

“Not only in regards to the transition costs to new councils, but in the permanent higher cost of delivering services at a smaller scale. This is what I was referring to in the private group meeting reported in the Guardian article and this is what I have conveyed to you directly, in person many times.”

Conservative leader of Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council Cllr Matt Boughton said of the latter: “What a lovely Friday night gift to receive. It wasn’t exactly an example of how to win friends and influence people.

“I have significant political differences with a lot of the other leaders in Kent but it doesn’t affect my ability to collaborate with them. I don’t think this should have been played out by letter.

“Perhaps she should spend some time sorting out her own shambolic administration. Given what everyone has been reading, it is blatantly obvious she has some pretty big problems of her own to solve.”

The Green Party leader of Maidstone Borough Council, Cllr Stuart Jeffery, who is also a KCC member, said: “Linden’s letter was quite obnoxious. I notice that she doubled down on the claim the other council leaders are ‘shockingly ignorant’ on LGR. I was quite taken aback.”