Footage of Reform councillors fighting is further proof that uselessness abounds, but that’s almost moot. To voters they are very useful idiots
“I
’m meant to be on bloody holiday this week, Paul! I don’t want to be having this meeting!” There is much to enjoy about the patriotic revolution in government promised by the leaked footage of the Reform UK group of councillors running Kent county council. Take council leader Linden Kemkaran speaking for all free speech absolutists when she declares: “Paul! Paul! I’m going to mute you in a minute!” Or consider her repeatedly stated vision of the imperfections of representative democracy: “You’re just going to have to fucking suck it up, OK?”
Even so I think the standout bit is when Kemkaran, who acknowledged Kent’s “flagship” status for the party and its leader Nigel Farage, says: “If we can avoid putting up council tax by the full 5%, that is going to be the best thing that we can do to show that Reform can run something as big as Kent council.”
As big as Kent council? The thing about Reform is that it could fairly soon be running something as big as the United Kingdom, with the most recent MRP poll suggesting that if a general election were run right now, with tactical voting, Reform would win a majority with 367 seats. Without tactical voting, they could be on for 445 – the largest majority since the franchise was extended in 1918. (Not to refuse to get swept up in the moment, but I do think we might have to allow for a bit of tactical voting.)
