Reform council leader says she has launched hunt for ‘cowards’ behind leaked video

The leader of Reform UK’s flagship local authority has told her fellow councillors that she 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”.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 can be 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’t balance Kent’s budget.In an extraordinary recording, which shows the inner workings of Reform’s Kent operation, she shouts down fellow members before telling them they will be “muted” in scenes reminiscent of the viral “Jackie Weaver” video from a parish council Zoom meeting in 2021.In a message sent after the Guardian published the video, Kemkaran told her fellow Reform councillors that a “thorough investigation” was being launched as she said she had passed on her suspicions about who was responsible for “this treachery” to Reform UK’s head office

Environment groups are anything but ‘mute’ on the planning bill | Letters

George Monbiot is both right and wrong in his article on the planning and infrastructure bill (Wage war on nature to build new homes: that’s Labour’s offer, but it’s a con trick, 16 October). He is right that there is no choice to be made between nature and housing and that both are essential. He is right that the repeated demonisation of wildlife by some in government is both inaccurate and against the deepest instincts of the British public. He is right that the planning and infrastructure bill has been spun into this narrative and that parts of it represent a huge risk for nature. But he is wrong that environment NGOs have been “mute” in response

Support for Reform UK increasing among British Indians, poll shows

Support for Reform UK among British Indians has tripled since the election, according to polling from a diaspora group that suggests Nigel Farage’s party is gaining ground in some demographics where it has struggled.Research by the 1928 Institute, a group of Oxford academics who analyse the British Indian community, shows backing for Reform has jumped in the past year from 4% to 13%.The findings, which are being released to coincide with Diwali, show support for Farage’s party among Britain’s largest minority ethnic community remains well below the national level. But the increase since the election is far higher than the national average, showing Reform is building momentum in communities where it has traditionally struggled.The report said: “British Indian support for Reform is significantly lower than that of the general UK population

Tory MP reports ‘AI-generated deepfake’ video announcing his defection to Reform UK

A Conservative MP has reported an “AI-generated deepfake” video of him announcing that he has joined Reform UK to the police, according to reports.George Freeman, the MP for Mid Norfolk, denounced the video and, in a Facebook post, called the deliberate spread of misinformation through AI-generated content a “concerning and dangerous development”.The video, which was widely circulated online, appeared to show the former Tory minister standing and speaking to the camera while saying he was switching allegiance and joining Nigel Farage’s party.It also showed the AI-generated Freeman saying the “time for half measures is over” and that the “Conservative party had lost its way”, while saying he was leaving the party.According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), the MP said he had “no intention of joining Reform or any other party

‘Suck it up’: leaked video exposes bitter infighting at Reform UK’s flagship Kent council

Bitter divisions in Reform UK’s flagship county council have been laid bare in a leaked video of a chaotic internal meeting where members were told to “fucking suck it up” if they did not agree with decisions.Councillors can be 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’t balance Kent’s budget.In an extraordinary recording, which shows the inner workings of Reform’s Kent operation, Kemkaran shouts down fellow members before telling them they will be “muted” in scenes reminiscent of the viral “Jackie Weaver” video from a parish council Zoom meeting in 2021.Kent county council, which has a £2.5bn annual budget and is one of 10 where Nigel Farage’s party has outright control, is considered to be a make or break showcase for whether Reform can be trusted to competently govern before a general election

‘Super Dom’ Cummings cunningly waits five years to reveal national security lapses | John Crace

And … relax. Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s Super Dom! At a time of heightened worries about national security, who better than Dominic Cummings to shine a light on the murky world of spying?The man who turned a drive to Barnard Castle into an advert for SpecSavers. The man who gave us Brexit. Which one of us didn’t vote for a 4% hit to GDP? The man who gave us Boris Johnson. Truly, Dom has enriched us all over the past 10 years