Kent Reform councillors pictured smiling alongside neo-Nazi activist
Plus KCC blurs neutrality line again, Lower Thames Crossing tries new regulatory system, news in brief, and more
Five Reform councillors attended a ‘stop the boats’ protest in Maidstone over the weekend, which might not be particularly newsworthy in itself. What stuck out immediately though were photographs of the group taken with protestors, including one man draped in the flag of a neo-Nazi organisation. We’ve got the full details below. Further down, we have news of Kent County Council continuing to blur the line of neutrality, a new regulatory system that should help the Lower Thames Crossing get done, news in brief, and more.
Kent Reform councillors pictured smiling alongside neo-Nazi activist
Five Reform councillors in Kent joined a ‘stop the boats’ protest in Maidstone at the weekend and appeared in photographs with a man draped in a flag of the British Movement, one of the UK’s longest-standing neo-Nazi organisations.
On Saturday, a group of protestors marched through Maidstone before gathering outside County Hall, where they were joined by councillors Oliver Bradshaw, Dean Burns, Amelia Randall, Garry Sturley and Pamela Williams. Photographs and TikTok videos from the day show the five councillors posing with protestors, including a heavily tattooed man wrapped in a British Movement flag. In some shots, councillors are smiling and giving double thumbs-up gestures.
The British Movement was founded in the late 1960s and is one of the most overtly neo-Nazi organisations in Britain. Its members have been convicted in recent years for offences including stockpiling weapons and preparing acts of terror.
A number of TikToks posted by those attending the protest show the heavily tattooed man walking as part of the group, draped in the flag. He then appears in multiple posed photos alongside the five Reform councillors, some of whom are performing a double thumbs-up gesture.
Several of the councillors later shared the photographs on their own social media accounts. At the time of publication, those posts remain live even after the presence of the neo-Nazi symbol was highlighted to them.
The protest itself drew fairly modest numbers. Chants of “stop the boats, send them back” were joined by less policy-focused refrains of “Keir Starmer’s a wanker” and “never trust a leftie with your kids.” UKIP leader Nick Tenconi also appeared with a small group of activists, who led part of the march while shouting about “migrant filth.” At County Hall, the protestors were met by around 50 counter-demonstrators, including local Green and Lib Dem councillors. The event passed off without arrests.
Ahead of publication, we asked each of the Reform councillors pictured how they came to be photographed alongside a man displaying overt neo-Nazi symbolism. None responded. We also requested comment from Kent County Council’s Reform leader, Linden Kemkaran, the group’s chief whip, Maxwell Harrison, and the press office of Reform UK nationally. No response was received from any of them.
As things stand, five Reform councillors in Kent have left online, without explanation, photographs of themselves grinning alongside a man openly flying a neo-Nazi flag. Until they or their party address it, the images speak for themselves.
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KCC blurs the neutrality line once again
Last week, we wrote about the questionable ‘Reforming Kent’s roads’ slogan that Kent County Council were using to promote their road maintenance programme. We questioned whether this would breach Section 2 of the Local Government Act, which forbids councils from publishing ‘any material which, in whole or in part, appears to be designed to affect public support for a political party.’ No one from KCC’s press office responded to our request for clarification, and they have continued posting the slogan in recent days.
Further evidence of KCC flying fast and loose with regards to impartiality rules appeared this week when the organisation posted about a councillor and some employees visiting a Skills Bootcamp that they support. All very normal so far. What stuck out was the Facebook tagging of the post, which read that ‘Kent County Council is feeling grateful with Reform UK Dover and Deal Branch,’ which would once again to be a breach of the Local Government Act.
In this case, it appears that someone at KCC might have realised this was over the line, as the tag has since been removed. In what seems to be a running theme this week, a request for comment from KCC’s press office went unanswered.
Lower Thames Crossing gets new regulatory system
The Lower Thames Crossing connecting Kent and Essex is set to become the first infrastructure project to be assigned a single environmental regulator. This seemingly bureaucratic change should make a big difference in the speed of construction and avoid the need for builders to juggle the demands of multiple different regulators to mitigate environmental damage.
That’s on paper, anyway. The reality is that the project will be overseen by Natural England, an organisation so rigid in its processes that it objected to Natural England building an office in Cornwall.
In theory, the single regulator should reduce the time it takes to get through the planning process to actually start building, something that Britain is notoriously slow at.
The Lower Thames Crossing was first proposed in 2009, and in the decade and a half since, it has become a symbol of the country’s creaking planning system. By the time the route was approved, £1.2bn had already been spent on it, including on a 350,000 page planning application.
Now that the project has been approved, construction is set to get underway in 2027, with an estimated opening date of 2032. We’ll wait and see if streamlining one part of the regulatory process helps or hinders builders in meeting that timeline.
In brief
🧑⚖️ A jury has cleared Dartford councillor Ricky Jones of encouraging violent behaviour after he called for the throats of far-right protestors to be cut.
🚄 Virgin has ordered 12 new high-speed trains to operate between London, Paris, Brussels, and Amsterdam as the company attempts to break Eurostar’s monopoly on the Channel Tunnel route. Ashford MP Sojan Joseph called the move a ‘step in the right direction’ toward high-speed trains stopping in Kent again.
🗳️ A third Maidstone councillor has resigned, joining two others who did the same last week. Independent Kathy Cox represented Harrietsham, Lenham and North Downs Ward. Now all three seats in the ward will be contested in a by-election following discontent over plans for a 5,000 home development.
📄 Planning consultancy DHA has requested a screening opinion from Swale Borough Council on plans to build 40 new homes in Oare, near Faversham.
🗄️ Ashford Borough Council is consulting on a new Local Plan in a largely pointless exercise, given the authority will likely be abolished in the next few years.
🖊️ Thanet District Council is consulting on creating a Margate Town Council.
🚜 A tractor plummeted from a bridge near Wrotham onto the carriageway of the M20 on Monday, with the driver airlifted to a London hospital with critical injuries.
⛴️ The Home Office has purchased the headquarters of P&O Ferries in Dover to use as an administrative building.
📷 The Folkestone Dispatch has been speaking to a former asylum seeker held at the infamous Napier Barracks complex.
🫶 The Kent residents trying to build community cohesion and support migrants seeking help.
🚓 A Herne Bay councillor has spoken to the Daily Express about the “wave” of antisocial behaviour plaguing the town this summer.
👷 The Canterbury Society is very upset that an emergency water leak was fixed.
📍 Bromley and Biggin Hill MP Peter Fortune has made the case for his constituency leaving London and becoming part of Kent, just like in the olden days.
🧊 East Thanet MP Polly Billington has come out in favour of air conditioning, a stance that is gaining traction across the political spectrum.
🏨 Once named the town’s ugliest building, Maidstone Travelodge could get a new look.
🏠 A planning inspector has banned a man in a West Malling conservation area from painting his house pink.
🐚 The Margate Shell Grotto and how it inspired Davie Bowie.
More Currents
Over the weekend, we spoke to Kent comic book writer and novelist Dan Abnett about his work on some of the world’s biggest franchises, from Doctor Who to Guardians of the Galaxy. We also chatted to Rhys Griffiths, the journalist behind a new hyperlocal news outlet in Folkestone.
The Prolific IP Man
Dan Abnett is a Kent comic book writer and novelist who has carved out a unique niche working on some of the world’s most recognisable franchises. We sat down with him to discuss his work on Doctor Who, Guardians of the Galaxy, and more. Further down, we speak to a reporter who has set up a new hyperlocal news outlet for Folkestone, and more
Footnotes
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Walks like a duck, sounds like a duck…
What's the significance (if any) of the thumb and first two fingers many of the 'marchers' in those photos seem to be holding up?
Is it a specific form of carpal tunnel syndrome caused by being a figurative rather than literal wanker? I fear it's something worse...