Princes Park councillor defects to Reform
Plus faith and fear in Medway’s Jewish community, news in brief, and more
The politics of Medway has shifted once again, with a Conservative councillor defecting to Reform following rows over flags and asylum hotels. We speak to the councillor below, and get responses from across the political spectrum. Further down, we speak to the Chair of Trustees at Chatham Memorial Synagogue about security measures the organisation is having to consider following last week’s horrific attack in Manchester, news in brief, and more.
Princes Park councillor defects to Reform
Princes Park councillor Robbie Lammas has quit the Conservatives and joined Reform, turning a row over flags and asylum plans into Medway’s most eye-catching political defection in years.
Lammas, who’s represented the ward since 2021, said he’d been left “unsupported” by his party. The final straw, he said, came when he tried to defend the display of national flags and ask questions about government plans to move asylum seekers into local housing, and felt no one in his own group had his back.
“Medway Labour’s decision to rip down our national flags is a disgrace to our proud maritime heritage,” he said in a statement announcing the move. “There are also necessary questions to be asked over Home Office plans to move asylum seekers from hotels into houses within Medway. Reform Medway are backing me in asking the necessary questions aimed at ensuring fairness between genuine asylum seekers and local Medway residents.”
Reform says it will soon present plans to make it harder for family homes to be converted into Houses in Multiple Occupation, arguing this would reduce the amount of housing stock available for government asylum use.
Lammas was first elected in a 2021 by-election and was re-elected in 2023, holding on as Labour took control of the council. He later stood as a parliamentary candidate in Liverpool in last year’s General Election. Before all that, he worked for several Conservative MPs and served as a special adviser to Richard Holden, the former chairman of the Conservative Party.
Speaking to Local Authority, Lammas described the decision as “a very strange feeling.”
“You feel very sorry to those that are disappointed,” he said. “But then you also feel pleasantly surprised by the many text messages of support you get from people that you least expect or have already gone over, and you didn’t know had. So it’s been a mixed bag, but I’m very mindful of residents that may have voted for me as a Conservative. Having spoken to them on the doorsteps in the last few weeks, I can assure you they are more than supportive.”
He said the switch had been “a long time coming,” claiming other Conservative councillors were “interested” in doing the same. “I didn’t feel adequately supported in standing up for the flags locally. I wasn’t supported in asking the necessary questions over the secret Home Office plans to relocate asylum seekers from hotels into accommodation within the Medway area. So now that’s why we’re going to do that as Reform.”
Lammas also confirmed he won’t be calling a by-election. “I have no plan to call a by-election, and I haven’t actually discussed if there’s any Reform position on that for local elections,” he said. “I am up for a by-election. I’m not going to call one, but I am up for it purely on the basis that I got in on a by-election with the highest majority in Medway’s history. So I see any calls for a by-election as a challenge to improve on my record.”
Ideologically, he described himself as a “communitarian Conservative,” drawing on ideas from MP Danny Kruger and Edmund Burke. “It’s about caring about community and societal stability because they shape individuals and therefore their life chances,” he said. “Which is why Reform will retain Labour votes because they talk to an attraction that most Labour voters sort of ascribe to.”
He insists his politics haven’t changed. “My mission is very much to hold Labour to account,” he said. “I’m still a conservative. I’m just under a banner. In politics, you don’t get to choose your instrument, the public does.”
Medway Conservative group leader Cllr George Perfect said the party was “disappointed” by Lammas’ decision. “Cllr Lammas was, of course, part of the last Rishi Sunak government as a special adviser and was part of the campaign to elect Boris Johnson as our Party Leader,” he said. “He should reflect on his own part in the mistakes of the previous government.”
Perfect said the party had “outlined a positive vision for the future of the United Kingdom” at this week’s Conservative Party Conference and warned of “the dangerous consequences of Reform UK’s economic policies.” He added that the Medway Conservatives remained “a strong, credible and effective alternative to the Labour and Co-Operative council,” and that no other defections were expected.
Reform’s group leader on Medway Council, Cllr David Finch, welcomed the new recruit. “Robbie brings a level of political experience and professionalism that’s rare in local government,” he said. “With a background working at the heart of Parliament, including as Chief of Staff and Special Adviser to senior ministers, and as a two-term councillor in Princes Park, he understands both the national system and the real needs of local people.”
Finch described the defection as “not only principled” but “symbolic.” “Robbie has seen the machine from the inside and knows it’s no longer working for the people,” he said. “Reform is offering a genuine alternative, built on honesty, accountability and action, and that’s exactly why someone of his calibre has chosen to join us.”
Medway Labour’s ruling administration also issued a statement following Lammas’ defection.
“Cllr Lammas helped make the mess the country finds itself in working as a special adviser to the Conservative Government,” a spokesperson said. “He is quoted as saying to this publication that Boris Johnson was the best leader for forwarding conservative values in his lifetime. His new party accuse Boris of a huge wave of immigration under his watch. Make of that what you will.”
“He called on Anna Soubry to call a by-election when she defected. We shall see if he follows his own advice or is hypocritical. The con artists he’s joined, which is increasingly made up of the same old Conservative faces, are now selling undeliverable fantasies to fix the mess they made.”
Lammas’ move came on the same day that four Conservative councillors in Gravesham also joined Reform, part of what the party describes as a wave of new recruits nationwide.
Reform’s Medway presence is still small, but Lammas gives it new visibility, experience, and a once reliably blue seat. The Conservatives, meanwhile, are left brushing off talk of further unrest on the week of their national conference.
Lammas says it’s about heritage and fairness. Labour calls it hypocrisy. The Conservatives say they’re not worried. But whatever anyone’s calling it, the right in Medway looks a little less certain than it did a week ago.
Faith and fear in Medway’s Jewish community
During Yom Kippur, there was an attack at a Manchester Synagogue, which resulted in two deaths and several more wounded. Steven spoke with Dalia Halpern-Matthews, Chair of Trustees at Chatham Memorial Synagogue and the Chair of the Communities and Faith forum, about the safety of Jews in Medway when visiting the Chatham Synagogue.
Yom Kippur is the Day of Atonement, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar. It is meant to be a day of fasting and reflection, a day to say sorry for anything you’ve done wrong, or to forgive those who have done something wrong against you. A day of resetting. “It’s the day when we believe that God will decide who will live and who will die in the next year. Whether we will be inscribed in the book of life for the following year,” Dalia tells me.
When the attack occurred, Dalia was aware of it when many at Chatham Memorial Synagogue were not, as she was taking part in services from home, having come down with covid. “I always go for Yom Kippur. It’s the day when no matter how irreligious Jews are, the vast majority will go to a service of some kind. It will be much busier.” While a hybrid service streamed online was great because it enabled Dalia to go, it meant she was also receiving messages about the attack. “We were maybe half an hour into our service when I realised.”
For those attending the synagogue in Chatham, the security situation was already under review before the attack. “We’ve had a lot of incidents over the last few years, and it’s certainly got worse in recent times, certainly since the Brexit vote.” This has included excrement on the front steps and pigs’ trotters left in the garden. The cemetery has been desecrated with vandalism. The pillars have been graffitied with swastikas.
As the situation has worsened and antisemitic hate crimes have risen, the Community Securities Trust, which the government funds under their place of worship security scheme, has given the Chatham Synagogue sufficient funding to enable them to hire a security guard for their services. “Mostly we have the same guy, a lovely young Muslim chap, and we invite him in and give him food.”
Whilst the security guard is properly trained, Dalia is now questioning the extent of that training, and for what circumstances? “Yes, they will challenge someone who tries to come into the Synagogue if it’s not someone they recognise.” But the sort of events faced in Manchester are something entirely different. “God forbid he had been faced with what happened in Manchester. I don’t know that he would have had the training to deal with that, and that’s something we need to look at moving forward.” Whilst having a security guard has made the community feel safer coming to the synagogue, it does showcase that danger is possible all the time. “It looks good, but actually, it’s really not nice knowing that you have to have that.”
The conversation has also included the troubling prospect of providing the Jewish community with visual ID to attend the synagogue. “That’s a really horrible way to be thinking when we are such an open and welcoming community.” Dalia has always been against identification, but following the attack, members of the community have raised it. “It’s not something I really would like to do.” It will be part of a more extended discussion with the management committee, the CST, and the police to determine what to do. CCTV is already in place to monitor the front of the building.
On a positive note, Dalia has found a positive response from Medway’s interfaith community. “There is a true sense of brotherhood and sisterhood, many of the different communities, including the faith communities in Medway. It’s an extraordinary thing, very unusual. Within hours of the attack in Manchester, we had received many wonderful messages from Muslim and Christian communities in Medway and from different people from different communities. Vince Maple phoned me from the council. That outpouring of love, support, and solidarity is heartwarming and really valued. We’re very lucky to have that in Medway.”
In brief
🗣️ Stoke Parish Council has passed a vote of no confidence in All Saints ward councillor Chris Spalding, citing alleged bullying, lack of attendance, and concerns over use of ward funds. The motion, brought by parish Cllr Shane Back and backed by a majority at the 1 October meeting, followed Medway Council’s finding that Spalding had breached its Code of Conduct. Spalding has rejected the claims as “untruths and misrepresentations,” saying he was unaware of the motion until contacted by the media.
🇵🇸 Palestinian solidarity campaigners are planning to protest at BAE Systems tomorrow. Organisers expect hundreds to attend as part of five regional protests against the firm.
🗄️ Plans have been submitted for 19 homes on a patch of land in Lordswood. Unusually, the plans will also see a communications mast removed from the site to make way for the homes.
🏦 Rainham’s new banking hub will open by the end of the month in the former Medway Council contact point on Station Road. The hub will provide banking services for a range of banks that no longer serve the town.
🟢 Following our report in August about allegations of a ‘coup’ within the Medway Green Party, the party is now set to rerun its Annual General Meeting on 2 November. An email to members seen by Local Authority cites ‘inconsistencies’ at the original meeting, something the national party denied when we approached them at the time.
➡️ For those still following the adventures of former Rochester and Strood MP Mark Reckless on his new adventures in Wales, a ‘camera glitch’ caused him to be replaced in a Reform group photo he was taking part in with a walnut.
More Authority
For our big weekend interview, we sat down with Alex Gilbert, the co-promoter of Medway-based United Kingdom Professional Wrestling. They talk about Gilbert’s rise and fall as a professional wrestler, playing the bad guy, their Parkwood events, and lots more.
“The world ended, and so did my hopes and dreams”
Alex Gilbert is passionate about wrestling. Ed previously wrote about attending a United Kingdom Professional Wrestling event for our sister Kent Current title. After Steven heard Alex speak at a Medway Champions event, they arranged to meet to talk about Alex’s rise and fall in professional wrestling, playing the bad guy, the promotion’s upcoming Parkwood event, and lots more.
Footnotes
Have a Medway story you think we might be interested in? Get in touch via hello(at)localauthority(dot)news - We’re always happy to talk off the record in the first instance…
Follow us on social media! We’re on Facebook, Instagram, BlueSky, and Threads, but not that other one.
If you enjoy Local Authority, please share it with your friends, family, associates, and even your enemies. We have no meaningful marketing budget, so we rely on word of mouth from our readers to find new readers. You can even get some sweet, sweet rewards for sending new readers our way. Details here.
Most people (anecdotally at least) vote for a party rather than a candidate.
When someone defects it should automatically trigger an election. I'd be furious if I'd voted Conservative* only to find I'd got a Reform councillor by stealth.
*I could have ended that sentence there.
Doesn’t matter what he says, it smells like opportunist careerism to me. And the fact he won’t call a by-election is rank hypocrisy.