Reform councillor forced out... for telling the truth

Many politicians have lost their jobs for lying. Only in Reform are people given the heave-ho for telling the truth!

Earlier this week Rats in a Sack reported how Matthew Fraser Moat, one of Kent Council’s Reform cabinet members in charge of the so-called Department of Local Government Efficiency, admitted that the party’s much-vaunted attempts to find waste at the local authority had failed.

Kent had been the first of Reform’s councils to get the Elon Musk-style treatment, with Farage saying it would seize and examine documents, reports and records and see what was being spent on consultants, climate change initiatives and “areas that county councils shouldn’t be getting involved in”.

Fraser Moat, the head of local government efficiency, told the Financial Times they were expecting to find vast amounts of waste but, er, that had not materialised. He said he was really proud that the Reform council had “not actually made any cuts”, adding “we haven’t cut frontline services other than what the Conservatives had already planned to do”. He said that Reform had actually blocked some of the previous administration’s proposed cuts, including the closure of several libraries.

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Now, amid much embarrassment among senior Reform figures, Fraser Moat has been forced to fall on his sword. He has claimed his words had been “twisted” but said he made a “lapse of judgement” and it had become clear that continuing in the role was “not sustainable”. The FT reporting “does not accurately reflect the position at Kent County Council and presents a selective account of the council’s work on efficiency and value for money”, according to the authority.

In his resignation statement, Fraser Moat said he had “tried to balance my council responsibilities with the responsibilities of my family business” but that the “pressure of giving my best to both roles led to a lapse of judgement”. He added: “I was very disappointed to see my words twisted to fit what I believe to be an anti-Kent County Council narrative by the newspaper in question.”

Still, it’ll all be forgotten soon at what is living up to Reform’s claim of being the council which would show exactly what the party in government would look like. Last week its deputy leader, Richard Tice, visited the council and waved around a t-shirt bearing the large slogan “Suck It Up”. This was a reference to comments made by the council’s leader, Linden Kemkaran, who last year was caught on a leaked video defending plans to increase council tax after vowing not to and telling her fellow Reform councillors to “fucking suck it up”.

The next Kent public relations disaster is due in 10, nine, eight…