Reform council leader hunts for 'cowards' who leaked meeting video

The leader of Reform UK's flagship local authority has told her fellow councillors she has launched a hunt for the "cowards" who leaked a recorded meeting in which she said those who disagreed with decisions would have to "fucking suck it up".

- Ben Quinn

Bitter divisions among Reform members of Kent county council, one of 10 controlled outright by Nigel Farage's party, were laid bare at the weekend by the Guardian in a leaked video of a chaotic internal meeting.

Councillors are seen complaining about "backbiting" and being ignored by their leader, Linden Kemkaran, who tells them they will be "screwed" and that Reform can forget about winning the general election if they don not balance Kent's budget.

In an extraordinary recording, she shouts down fellow members before telling them they will be "muted".

In a message sent after the Guardian published the video, Kemkaran told fellow Reform councillors a "thorough investigation" was being launched as she said she had passed on her suspicious about who was responsible for "this treachery" to the party's head office.