Kent’s far right moves into the mainstream
Plus a fake town for civil unrest near Gravesend, more from Reform, Folkestone MP speaks out, and more
Good morning and welcome to your Monday Kent Current briefing. We hope the weekend brought at least a brief escape from the late-November gloom. It’s that time of year when Kent feels permanently grey around the edges and the calendar suddenly insists we’re somehow days from December.
We begin with a detailed look at the growing influence of the far right in Kent, where a new ecosystem of activists and organisers has taken shape and, in recent weeks, reached directly into meetings with MPs. It’s a story about scale, visibility, momentum, and how quickly the political landscape can shift.
Elsewhere in today’s edition, we’ve got a rare look inside the specialist training town on the Gravesend marshes, a sharp dive into the turmoil inside Reform at County Hall, and the Folkestone MP whose intervention on immigration catapulted him into national view. There’s also the small matter of a £1bn road contract for a council that may not exist in three years, and a fort in the middle of the River Medway up for sale for £50,000.
Here’s what you need to know.
Catch up
If you missed any of our reporting over the past week, here’s your chance to catch up:
Pete Nelson is one-half of the team behind Folkestone’s Docker Bakery and brewery. We sat down with him for our big weekend interview to discuss how the business started, their new site in Ashford, and his advice to aspiring brewers.
Kent’s finances are looking increasingly perilous, with a forecasted overspend this year exceeding £46m. We looked at what happens next, as well as news on local government reorganisation, the latest financial declarations of Kent MPs and more in our Friday edition.
Less than 18 months on from Labour’s landslide victory, their majority is already feeling shaky. Columnist Paul Francis writes for us about what has gone wrong and whether any Kent MPs will be tempted to break ranks in the coming months.
Kent’s far right moves into the mainstream
Kent is no longer dealing with fringe agitation at the political margins. A new far-right ecosystem has taken shape across the county, blending social-media influence with street-level mobilisation. It is organised, fast-moving and increasingly confident, and in recent weeks, two of its leading figures have found their way into meetings with Kent MPs.
Why it matters: The shift reveals how easily extremist actors can present themselves as local spokespeople, especially in communities where tensions around migration and safety are already high. It also shows how vulnerable mainstream politics can be when these groups reposition themselves as “parents,” “concerned residents,” or “protectors.”
Kent’s experience is becoming a case study in a national pattern. But the county is ahead of the curve.
The rise of a far-right influencer: One arm of the movement is led by Whitstable-based Jodie Scott, known online as ‘Missus Kent,’ who emerged from anti-vax TikTok channels during the pandemic and has since become a familiar figure at anti-migrant protests. She has performed at far-right rallies led by Tommy Robinson, and her Spotify catalogue includes tracks such as Invasion and This Is England. One song contains an extreme, defamatory allegation about the Prime Minister.
Her content blends conspiracy theories, anti-migrant narratives and pseudolegal ‘common law’ ideas. She has appeared on the YouTube channel of Holocaust-denier Alistair McConnachie and given lengthy interviews to filmmaker Liam Galvin, who has produced sympathetic documentaries about Tommy Robinson and promoted other far-right influencers.
Earlier this year, she launched ‘National Education Security,’ a vigilante school-gate initiative framed as child protection. That work led to a meeting with Canterbury MP Rosie Duffield on 14 November. Scott later told her followers she “quite liked” Duffield and felt the MP had listened. She said Duffield encouraged her to raise concerns with Reform-led Kent County Council.
We asked Duffield’s office if she was aware of Scott’s background. No response was received.
Inside the private chat: Days after the meeting, KentOnline published leaked messages from a WhatsApp group Scott ran called ‘Missuskent’s Patriotic Community.’ The messages included calls for “mass Islam genocide,” discussion of guns and crossbows, references to petrol bombs and violent comments about Muslims and migrants. A Reform councillor from Lancashire was suspended after appearing to engage with a threat targeting the Prime Minister.
Scott described some of the content as “absolutely” unacceptable, but also blamed infiltrators. She insisted she had tried to shut down the discussion while telling followers to “save that picture before I clear this chat.” That picture in question was of a five-shot repeater crossbow.
The leak meant that the MP had met with a far-right organiser days before her private chat was exposed as a space where violent rhetoric was circulating freely.
The growth of a street movement: The movement’s other major figure in Kent, Faversham-based activist Harry Hilden, has built influence online and off. He now has more than 11,000 Facebook followers, where his livestreams, neighbourhood-watch-style updates and anti-immigration posts have placed him at the centre of protests targeting sites housing unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in Faversham and Canterbury.
His confrontational style has repeatedly crossed into intimidation. In September, he waved a bag containing used toilet paper in the face of a KMTV Local Democracy Reporter during a Canterbury demonstration. Senior figures in Reform-run Kent County Council initially liked the footage online before distancing themselves.
Hilden has also boasted about tracking down people he accuses of removing flags and compelling them to apologise. His activities increasingly extend beyond Kent: UnHerd reported that he attended Poland’s independence march this month, a significant event in the European far right.
Where activism meets extremism: This street-level activism has attracted major national figures. Earlier this month, Britain First co-leader Paul Golding addressed a Faversham demonstration organised by Hilden. Local councillors described the invitation as deeply disturbing.
Golding’s presence is notable for another reason. In 2014, he attempted to lead a Britain First march through Rochester and was driven out of the town by anti-racism counter-protesters. His return to Kent a decade later as an invited speaker represents a significant shift in the local landscape.
Days after the Faversham rally, Searchlight published a photograph showing Golding drinking in a Dartford pub with both Kent activists, confirmation that the county’s far-right organisers are connected, coordinated and aligned with national extremist figures.
Searchlight also reported that fascist activists were involved early in the flag campaigns and that Britain First donated hundreds of flags. Kent has become one of the movement’s most active hubs.
The MP factor: As these groups have grown, Kent’s MPs are increasingly being drawn into their orbit, sometimes inadvertently.
In late October, Faversham and Mid Kent MP Helen Whately publicly denied reports that people were knocking on doors on her behalf about Acacia Court. The claim appears to have stemmed from confusion after she agreed to meet Hilden and his allies, but it demonstrates the risk of such associations.
On 7 November, Whately met with Hilden. He later praised her heavily and apologised for previous criticism, using the meeting as proof that his activism was being taken seriously by Westminster.
Alongside Scott’s meeting with Duffield, a clear pattern has emerged: far-right organisers are adept at presenting themselves as community representatives, and any contact with MPs, however routine, becomes a tool for claiming legitimacy.
The big picture: Similar dynamics are emerging across the country. Recent flagger events in Wolverhampton assembled in front of a Patriotic Alternative banner. A protest in Bristol marched under a UKIP banner. The same framing appears everywhere: “community defence,” distrust of institutions and calls for direct action.
Kent is ahead of the curve because of high migration pressures, fragmented local politics, and a long history of far-right mobilisation. Those conditions have allowed new activists to grow quickly and embed themselves in local narratives.
What’s next: The recent revelations have brought the movement and its leaders under sharper public and political scrutiny. But the movement’s leaders appear energised rather than deterred. One has leaned deeper into national far-right networks. The other has promised more demonstrations across the county.
Kent is now a test case for how local institutions respond to hyper-local, influencer-driven extremism. The challenge is whether leaders can address genuine concerns without legitimising movements built on conspiracy, intimidation or hate.
Right now, that challenge is becoming more acute.
Three big reads
1️⃣ The New Statesman gained access to the Met Police’s Specialist Training Centre near Gravesend. On the marshes, the force has created a fake town to train officers for civil unrest incidents.
2️⃣ Bloomberg has weighed in on the current state of Reform at County Hall, where expelled Reform councillor Bill Barrett says that the party is a “cult” and “they all talk about Farage like he’s the messiah.”
3️⃣ The Guardian has spoken to Folkestone and Hythe Tony Vaughan, whose intervention against his own government’s immigration policy last week propelled him into the national spotlight.
In brief
👊 Kent County Council cabinet member Peter Osborne threatened to punch the colleague who leaked the infamous Reform video last month.
🎙️ KCC leader Linden Kemkaran and Medway Council leader Vince Maple go head-to-head on this week’s Kent Politics Podcast.
🚫 Nearly a dozen Swale councillors have been barred from a pub in Queenborough after the borough introduced car parking charges nearby.
🇵🇱 In all of the talk about inward immigration, how often do we think about the people leaving? KentOnline tracked down some of the 30,000 people who have left the UK for a new life in Poland.
🚧 Kent County Council, which likely won’t exist in three years, has signed a 21-year road maintenance contract valued at £1bn with Ringway, who take over from the existing provider Amey.
🏢 Ashford Borough Council has relocated its operations from the Civic Centre to International House, an office block it owns nearby.
🎭 Broadstairs Memorial Hall, which houses the town’s only theatre space, is to be sold off to the highest bidder by Kent County Council.
🏥 Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust and Medway NHS Foundation Trust are to combine their leadership structures to form a new group covering both trusts.
🏗️ Residents of a new-build estate in Ashford have been waiting over a decade for basic facilities such as a shop, buses, and a community hall.
🌊 Southern Water has apologised after pellets released from a wastewater site in Eastbourne started washing up on Kent beaches.
🦋 Two new wildlife sites in Maidstone have been designated thanks to the lawn shrimp and green hairstreak butterfly, which are both definitely real things.
🪰 Flying insects in Kent have declined by 66% in five years. Sounds bad.
🙋 BBC Question Time is set to record in Dover next week. You can apply to be in the audience here.
🎸 Scouting for Girls are to headline a village music festival in Preston, near Canterbury, next year.
🏫 Mick Jagger popped into his old school in Dartford to meet music students.
📷 A remarkable photo of the Turner Contemporary in Margate.
🚣 A nineteenth-century military fort in the middle of the River Medway is up for sale with a guide price of £50,000.
Council meetings this week
Folkestone and Hythe: Full Council gets together on Wednesday to discuss delivering more council-owned temporary accommodation, the budget situation, and more.
Ashford: Somewhat late to the party, Full Council will meet on Thursday to finalise the borough’s local reorganisation position, just one day before the government’s deadline to submit a response.
Dover: Planning Committee meets on Thursday to decide whether to grant permission for a large solar farm near Ash, which some are fighting against because it’s near a Roman fort.
Thanet: Cabinet gathers on Thursday to discuss the budget, acquiring new homes, and most excitingly, the procurement of a UPVC windows and doors replacement contract.
Events this week
🐐 Thu 27 Nov - Led by Donkeys //High-profile public protestors take attendees behind the scenes of their activism. Gulbenkian Theatre, Canterbury. Tickets £18.
🎸 Thu 27 Nov - Lou Barlow // Indie rock legend of Sebadoh and Dinosaur Jr. Forum, Tunbridge Wells. Tickets £20.
Footnotes
Have a Kent story you think we might be interested in? Get in touch via hello(at)kentcurrent(dot)news - We’re always happy to talk off the record in the first instance…
Follow us on social media! We’re on Facebook, BlueSky, and Instagram for now.
Enjoying the Kent Current? Pass it on. If you know someone who’d like this too, forward this email to them and invite them to subscribe.