The very public implosion of the Medway Conservatives

A Conservative councillor accuses Alan Jarrett of bullying, Kent was on fire, everyone has covid, and guess who's back?

Local Authority is a free independent weekly Medway newsletter covering local news, politics, culture, and the weirder side of our towns. To be notified as soon as the latest edition is available, please hit the subscribe button below. Thanks for reading!

Welcome to the latest Local Authority. Apologies for this edition arriving a little late. Turns out moving is a lot of work and takes a lot of time. Who could have known?

Conservative councillor accuses Alan Jarrett of bullying

The latest chapter of the Medway Conservatives publicly tearing themselves apart this week with a cracking story from Medway’s Local Democracy Reporter Katie May Nelson: Conservative councillor for Princes Park Gloria Opara accusing Medway Council leader Alan Jarrett of bullying her as part of a deselection battle.

The discipline of the usually restrained Conservative group on Medway Council has completely collapsed in recent months. This largely stems from growing discontent over the Local Plan and the inability to get one completed by the council.

Several Conservative councillors have publicly criticised the administration, with the battles spilling over to the candidate selection meetings ahead of next year’s local elections. This led to the longstanding councillor and portfolio holder behind the failed Local Plan Cllr Jane Chitty being deselected by the members of her party.

This escalated this week with a much more serious allegation following the selection meeting for Princes Park ward. The outcome of the meeting seems to be in dispute, with reports suggesting members in the ward wanted to keep Cllr Opara and deselect her ward colleague and AI algorithm of a weirdly tall used car salesman Cllr Robbie Lammas.