This
article is more than 3 months old
Reform
councillors in Kent condemned for spending thousands on political assistants
This
article is more than 3 months old
Party
that pledged to cut waste and save money faces criticism after pushing through
vote to employ advisers
Ben Quinn
Sat 20
Dec 2025 14.48 GMT
Reform
UK’s “flagship” local authority, Kent county council, has been condemned for
pushing through plans to spend tens of thousands of pounds on hiring political
assistants.
The move
comes after councillors from Nigel Farage’s party in Warwickshire were accused
of hypocrisy in July when they voted to spend £150,000 on the advisers, some of
whom are being parachuted in by the national party to deal with a litany of
issues at Reform-run councils.
Both
councils face budget crises and Reform candidates were voted in on pledges to
cut waste and save money.
A new
leaked recording of a meeting of the Reform councillors in Kent – wearing
turquoise Santa’s elf hats – showed them being told earlier this week by one of
their leaders, Maxwell Harrison, that a former Reform director of campaigning
and training at the party’s head office had been hired by the council as a
“political assistant”.
Harrison
named him as Michael Hadwen, who has attracted controversy for social media
posts including expressing support for Enoch Powell’s ideas about immigration.
In
response to a tweet by Daniel Hannan, the Conservative politician, which said
that Powell was wrong about immigration, Hadwen said: “Enoch was right, he was
just before the times.”
In April
2018 – about a month after Russian agents attempted to assassinate Sergei and
Yulia Skripal in Salisbury – Hadwen also said that “Russia is not my enemy”,
adding: “We should be working with them, and not throwing around threats like a
spoilt child.”
The
appointment was voted through on Thursday with 45 votes in favour and 26
against at a meeting of Kent county council, where Reform continues to hold a
majority after it purged a number of councillors amid bitter internal
divisions.
Those
reprisals came after footage leaked to the Guardian showed Reform councillors
squabbling among themselves and being told to “fucking suck it up” by their
leader, Linden Kemkaran.
Reform UK
has used a clause in the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 which allows
councils to appoint a maximum of three persons to provide assistance to members
of political groups. The assistants can be paid salaries of up to £49,282,
excluding national insurance and pension contributions.
The
Liberal Democrat group leader, Antony Hook, accused Reform of “wanting to spend
public money on a political apparatchik to tell them what to do”.
He said:
“Kent county council is in a worsening financial state under Reform with the
projected overspend now at £46m and rising.
“The
person mentioned appears to have a record of concerning views such as endorsing
the racist Enoch Powell who spoke against the idea people of different races
living happily together in Britain. The person named has evidently also said we
should work with Russia.”
A Reform
UK Kent spokesperson said: “Providing professional political support to its
leadership is entirely proportionate, and the role will be cost neutral.
“Kent
county council’s budget is double that of the Treasury department, which has
eight political advisers, and larger than the Department for Business and
Trade, who employ four political advisers, despite both already employing
armies of civil servants.
“Political
assistants are a normal and established part of local government. Many
councils, including the Lib Dem-controlled Gloucestershire county council, have
allocated budgets for these roles.”
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