UK political shockwaves ......
The ex-UKIP party, now Reform UK, clean up in Kent County council elections, but now they must deliver ......
On Friday 2nd May 2025, we here in Kent, ‘the garden of England’ in South-East England, UK, had our latest ‘Trump moment’ as Reform UK cleaned up across the county.
Context
Full disclosure, I am an active member of the Dartford Green Party, an affiliated party to the national Green Party of England and Wales, however this reflective blog is my own perspective, and my own experience, to try and add more flavour and nuance to what has unfolded, and to what I expect to further unfold in the coming 1-2 years.
Additionally, whilst I am a Green party member, and there are for sure forces at play that have accelerated Reform’s ability to go from zero to perceived hero in super-quick time, their local teams also deserve some credit - yes we can avoid binary tribalism when we reflect and I invite all of us, no matter which way we lean politically, to do the same.
How else can we learn and grow?
The shockwave
As you can see above, Reform, the UK super right-wing party and ex-UKIP, went from zero, to controlling Kent County council, following yesterdays (2nd May 2025) elections.
Capability and intent
This means that the political direction of Kent county now sits with mainly people that have never done this job before. Let that sink in.
It is also important to note that if the Green Party had achieved what Reform have, equally we would have had the majority of councillors that have never been a county councillor before, although there are a number of Green county councillors in place.
What was interesting to me as I attended the count yesterday was that as I spoke with a number of the Reform candidates, it was clear to me how passionate they were about our local community.
Sure they may have, in some cases wildly different, beliefs than me, yet they really do care about the community.
One of the biggest challenges has been to understand what Reform candidates really believe in beyond being anti-immigration, and I was advised that over-development, under-investment in infrastructure (GPs, schools, roads etc), and a desire to protect green spaces were all key focuses. All sounding very Green!
What is often missing is HOW they plan to deliver.
At the same time, it was fascinating to learn that the 66-page pre-election document that is sent to all potential candidates had not even been passed over by the few candidates that I spoke to.
Being curious as I am, I can look at this through a few lenses, but I cannot be sure which are most valid:
They were so focused on campaigning and winning, that they saw reading this document as a secondary act. Fair, as I very much approached this the same way
They didn’t believe that they would win, so didn’t see the point in reading it
They have no interest in following due process and will approach being councillor in a very emergent/disruptive way …..
Whatever the thinking, one thing is for sure, the local teams wanted to win, and they went hard after that win which resulted in the above landslide.
With regards to 2. above, I witnessed one Reform candidate literally do a triple-take when his name was read out. There was a mix of shock and horror on his face as he realised that he had won the seat.
As such, one of my biggest curiosities as I type on Saturday 3rd May 2025, is how many of these new Reform Kent councillors, waking up this morning, are happy they got in, and how many ran for the thrill and buzz of trying to disrupt the local political system, not expecting to win?
The evidence will be in how they engage and deliver over the next 2-3 years.
Now they MUST deliver, and you can see the social listening shift overnight in that direction too.
Media influence, money, and hard work
There is a perception that Reform have been getting a hugely disproportionate amount of airtime and media attention versus pretty much all other parties, and from observing General Election 2024, and recent county elections, I do feel that is a fair challenge, however finding a data source to back this up is not easy!
That said, following on from my conversations with some of the Reform candidates, it was interesting to learn that up until recently, all local Reform parties were fully self-funded, just as is the case for The Green Party.
Due to the huge influx of new members at Reform, for the past few months they have been receiving monies from central office, which has boosted their coffers, however as per their candidates, this is the first time they have received such support.
On more than one occasion, and from more than one data point, we got clear that Reform candidates were very supportive of each other across the local area, on a continuous basis throughout the campaign, often with only one or two other supporters.
They were printing hundreds and thousands of personalised letters in their kitchens and then distributing themselves. Credit where credit is due.
Can possibilities be expanded under Reform? Or has a new cancer just formed?
For our communities sake, I really hope that the new councillors lean in and get deeply involved in our community politics, in healthy and inclusive ways.
I try and say often that apart from the far right ideology that underpins Reform, at a community level, there are a lot more similarities than there are differences e.g desire to have a proportional voting system, a desire to break the two-party binary system, a care about local infrastructure and green spaces etc
How The Green Party include and speak to Reform voters is going to be a key deciding factor I sense over the next years, but one thing is for sure, Kent Greens with 14% of the vote, ahead of Labour and Liberal Democrats, and with an evidence long-term approach to community politics, are well placed to work alongside and/or clean up any mess that may arise as a result of this shockwave, IF, Reform were to be found have benefited from a mass frustration and conditioning of the populous.
Interconnectedness and supremacy culture
It is also important that we see how connected Reform’s rise is in my locality here in Kent, to Trumps recent win, and the move towards the right in Netherlands, France etc
At the same time 15 years of increasing food bank usage, more and more billionaires each year, and a reduction in living standards for the average Joe, Jasper, and John, also known as an inequality crisis, has been completely missed / avoided.
Western colonisation and supremacy culture has been pervasive for over 500 years and right now, before our eyes, it is changing shape again through technology, shock-and-awe cutting of key jobs, and an intentional desire to shape cultures.
You can find out more from a recent LinkedIn post that I shared following attending a Times event in London called ‘“First 100 days of Trump.’
Western hegemony’s veil has been fully removed, and now is the painful, boring, and important work of bridge-building.
Going forward
For those that may be curious, the result of my ‘paper’ candidacy is as follows from yesterday:
Considering that I did zero active campaigning as we were focussing on a target seat elsewhere, it is a solid base to build authentically from, on a community-first basis, in my new home location.
I would also assert that the time to lean into discomfort is truly here, and as per this amazing talk below from Shahid Bolsen, the work continues, the boring, mundane, non-sexy work:
We need to understand why people think and act the way that they do, even if seemingly polar opposite to us. Maybe BECAUSE they seem polar opposite to us.
Go well, and do let me know how this blog resonates or what you may challenge.
Shall we connect?
garry.turner@radicality.co.uk
My name is Garry Turner and I am a Possibility Expander, disrupting extractive thinking and industries whilst working at the intersection of international sales, people and culture, equity & inclusion and sustainability:
- Subscribe to my substack at https://possibilityexpander.substack.com/
- International business development and authentic relationship building human working within and across a Euro 4bn + corporation
- International speaker on topics around human-centered design, vulnerability and change is an inside job.
- Support senior leaders and mission driven solopreneurs as a Thinking Partner.
- Facilitator of people-centered workshops and organisational design.
- Guide of 1–1 personal, transformational Exploration Spaces.
- The co-creator with Jo Hompstead of Spaces in-person gatherings which are an emergent and co-creative space for both businesses and open groups
LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/garryturnerthinkingpartner
Garry are you now living in Kent? How is Datford connected to Wilmington…
Good analysis