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Reform UK has suspended four of its Kent councillors after a video was leaked of the council’s leader telling her colleagues to “suck it up”.
Councillors Paul Thomas, Oliver Bradshaw, Bill Barrett and Maxine Fothergill have all had the whip suspended pending investigation “following evidence that they brought the party into disrepute”, Reform said on Monday.
The move follows the publication by the Guardian of a video of a private online meeting between Reform councillors, indicating bitter infighting among the council’s lead group.
In the video, the council’s leader Linden Kemkaran could be seen telling councillors, in relation to policy decisions, “you’re just going to have to fucking suck it up”.
“Let’s not forget, we are the shop window at KCC,” she added of Kent county council, which she referred to as the party’s “flagship council”.
In response Thomas could be heard questioning whether the council had the “right leader and the right cabinet”.
Kemkaran later muted him. Subsequently the BBC reported that she had told colleagues she had passed her “suspicions of who is responsible for this treachery to head office”.
A Reform council spokesperson said on Monday: “Cllrs Paul Thomas, Oliver Bradshaw, Bill Barrett and Maxine Fothergill have had the whip suspended pending investigation, following evidence that they brought the party into disrepute.”
The party did not give any further detail on the evidence.
In a statement, Fothergill said she strongly denied being “the source of the leaked video”. She added: “Distractions like this only play into the hands of our opponents.
“I look forward to rejoining my colleagues when this process has concluded, my name is cleared, and the real culprits are held to account.”
The other three councillors who have had the whip suspended have been contacted for comment.
The leaked video comes as Kent and the other nine councils in which Reform secured a majority in May’s local elections are increasingly under the spotlight over next year’s budget process.
During the election campaign in May, Reform promised council tax cuts and a swift rooting-out of waste, but has so far revealed few major savings in any of its local authorities.
Its councils are now also weighing whether to put up council tax despite Reform’s election pledges, due to the severe pressure local government finances are under.
Two people familiar with the Kent situation said the suspensions had caused chaos at a meeting on Monday at which parents who had not been granted home-to-school transport funding were hoping to argue their case. Fothergill and Thomas are both members of the five-strong appeals panel.
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