I am here in Worcestershire. I know the personalities, the tensions, the rivalries, the bruised egos, the collapsing relationships, the exhaustion after a year of chaos. I know what is at stake.
And that is precisely why the decision by Kemi Badenoch and Conservative Central Office to suspend Adam Kent is so astonishing, so politically tin-eared, and so fundamentally self-destructive.
Because this was not Westminster fantasy politics. This was not a student union debate. This was not some ideological parlour game being played out on social media.
This was local government, in the real world, under real pressure, with real consequences for the people of Worcestershire.
And after just one year of Reform control, many councillors across the chamber had simply seen enough.
Today should have been a story about Reform UK losing control of Worcestershire County Council after only a single year in office. That alone is extraordinary. Parties do not normally lose control so quickly unless something has gone badly wrong.
Instead, through sheer political incompetence, the Conservatives have somehow turned the spotlight onto themselves.
It may genuinely be the first time in modern British politics that a Conservative group leader has been suspended for helping remove a failing administration from power.
You could not script it. The facts matter here.
At today’s council meeting, Reform UK’s Alan Amos was proposed as leader of the council. He was opposed by Matt Jenkins, whose nomination was seconded by Adam Kent.
The subsequent vote saw Conservatives, Greens, Liberal Democrats and independents combine to prevent Reform retaining control. Why? Because many councillors had concluded that another year of instability would damage the county.
Adam Kent himself laid out the case publicly during the meeting. He condemned what he described as “public resignations”, “internal feuding”, “leadership coups”, and councillors “walking away”. He said the council had become known more for “drama rather than delivery”. And crucially, he was right.
Anyone paying attention locally knows exactly what he meant.
Over the last year Worcestershire politics has often looked less like stable government and more like a permanent rolling crisis. Reform had promised lower taxes and tighter control of spending, yet council tax still rose and financial pressures deepened. Even Nigel Farage himself reportedly described Worcestershire County Council as a “basket case”.
That is the context. That is the reality.
And then there is the question of Reform’s proposed leadership itself.
This was a candidate associated with comments suggesting it was too easy for women to report rape, support for adopting the Euro, arguments that Britain’s future lay closer to the European Union, attacks on the Royal Family as “parasites”, and support for rainbow-coloured crossings as political statements.
Even within Reform there was visible discomfort.
So local Conservatives made a judgement. Not a national judgement. A local one. That distinction matters enormously.
Because conservatism, historically, has always depended on trusting local leaders to navigate local realities. Worcestershire is not Westminster. County councils are not ideological laboratories. Sometimes coalition arrangements emerge because arithmetic, personalities and practical governance leave few alternatives.
The old Conservative Party understood this instinctively. The new one appears not to.
Instead, Conservative HQ has chosen to send an unmistakable message to every Tory councillor in England, local judgement is now subordinate to central approval.
That is what this suspension means.
Forget the language about “honesty”, “discipline” and “trust”. The real message received by councillors tonight is brutally simple, do not take politically difficult decisions unless London approves first. And that changes everything.
Because from this moment on, every Conservative group leader in the country will be calculating not simply what is best for their residents, but what is least likely to trigger outrage from Central Office.
That is poisonous for local democracy.
What is the point of local leadership if local decisions cannot actually be made locally? Why bother electing group leaders if their role is simply to await instructions from London?
The deeper irony is devastating.
Today should have damaged Reform UK. Instead, the Conservatives have managed to create headlines about internal purges, suspensions and civil war.
Even Reform’s deputy leader, Richard Tice, immediately seized the opportunity to attack the Conservatives, accusing them of “jumping into bed with the Green Party”.
In other words, the Conservatives have not only punished one of their own most respected local figures, they have also handed Reform a national political weapon.
Magnificent work.
And what of Adam Kent himself?
I know him. Others here know him too. He’s an asset to our party.
He is not reckless. He is not ideological. He is not dishonest.
He is a serious Conservative who made a difficult local decision based on what he believed was best for Worcestershire after a year of dysfunction and instability.
For that, he has been publicly thrown under the bus by his own party leadership.
And if you are a Tory councillor watching this unfold tonight, one thought must now be impossible to ignore.
Who on earth would want to lead a Conservative group under these conditions?
Wake up, Kemi.
