Reform councillors 'acting like clowns and Traitors'

Insults exchanged at Kent's first meeting since video leak

- ATHENA STAVROU

Reform UK’s flagship council has been mocked as having “more clowns than Billy Smart’s circus” as councillors met for the first time since footage of a chaotic online meeting emerged.

Several members of the party in Kent were suspended after footage of the meeting was leaked last month, in which council leader Linden Kemkaran could be seen berating backbench councillors when they questioned her.

The administration was confronted by opposition leaders during a chaotic meeting at Kent County Council (KCC) yesterday, where they were branded a “laughing stock”.

Harry Rayner, the council’s Conservative leader, said the council had “more clowns on display since I saw Billy Smart’s last circus”.

He was joined by the leader of the Liberal Democrats in Kent, Antony Hook, who said the council is in “political crisis” and that he had heard of “bets being made” about whether the administration would last until Christmas. He urged councillors to “not act in a way that becomes a punchline on Have I Got News for You”.

The council’s Green Party leader, Mark Hood, compared the group to another TV show – The Traitors – and said members were waiting to see who else might be deemed as such.