When Nigel Farage told Laura Kuenssberg that Warwickshire County Council had blocked Reform’s inquiries into its financial accounts, it seemed like a classic story of the deep state obstructing democratically elected politicians from doing their duty.
There’s only one problem: Reform never made any inquiries.
In a Freedom of Information request, seen by the New Statesman, the council was asked which Reform councillors had asked to view Warwickshire County Council’s financial accounts, books records and credit card receipts. The council was unequivocal: “No requests have been made for this specific information and therefore this information is not held.” The Hitch put this to Reform but their spin doctors weren’t forthcoming with a reply.
Farage made the claim during an episode of Kuenssberg’s BBC show, which aired on July 20 of this year. It came up as part of a discussion about the Reform council leader George Finch’s plans to spend £190,000 on political assistants. Kuenssberg questioned whether it was a good use of council money, given Reform’s emphasis on slashing budgets.
“Well at the moment we are finding that we are very, very, hamstrung,” Farage replied. “We are going into existing administrations, we are facing obstructionism, in many places, and Warwickshire, a very, very good example. The CEO wilfully defying what we want to do there. So, does this guy George Finch need some professional political figures around him? You bet your life he does. This is going to be a very big battle against the existing bureaucracies that exist in these councils, that have been running bad practices for years, we have a fight on our hands.”
Kuenssberg followed up, asking him how hiring even more staff is a viable solution to cutting costs, and the Reform leader doubled down: “It’s better to have staff who support the will of the democratically elected councillors, than it is to have public sector staff opposing it.”
Asked if this was a model for Reform councils across the country, he singled Warwickshire out as the worst example. “I think Warwickshire is the worst example of obstructionism that we face. There are other councils where we’re working reasonably well with existing administrations.” He then went further again: “They don’t want to show us the books, we ask where’s the money being spent can we see the credit card statements, and we find genuine deliberate obstructionism.”
Reader, there might be an innocent explanation for all of this, and it is of course possible for council workers to obstruct requests for financial information. But not if you never ask for it.
[Further reading: Reform is not going anywhere]
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