‘London is better than the hate filled Leader of Kent Council’
The Reform UK leader of Kent County Council has been condemned for sending ‘a message of division’ on the 20th anniversary of the 7 July London bombings.
Linden Kemkaran, a former BBC journalist and Conservative parliamentary candidate, posted an anti-immigration and anti-Muslim message to mark the anniversary.
She wrote: “On the eve of the anniversary of #7/7 if someone had told me 20 years ago that our borders would be utterly broken, Islamism would be on the rise, sectarianism in Parliament would be accepted & blasphemy laws on the way, I would have laughed in your face. Yet here we are.”
On 7 July 2005, four suicide bombers attacked the London transport network, killing 52 people and injuring over 770 others.
The X account Reform UK Party Exposed criticised Kemkaran’s divisive post.
‘Britain is better than that’
They said: “Reform UK’s Leader of @Kent_cc has decided to use the 20th anniversary of the 7/7 terrorist attacks in London to send a message of division. One intended to stoke hate.
“It was a city fearful, confused and in mourning. But London did what it does best, it pulled together, London pulled together.”
Reform UK Party exposed added: “So sorry Linden Kemkaran, you may want to waggle your hateful finger of division at immigrants, at trans people, at Islam, at anyone you can in your quest to cause anger; but Britain is better than that – and we think before we speak. We learn.
“We then pull together in the name of standing side by side as human beings. A common humanity. Just like London did 20 years ago.”
Another X user responded to Kemkaran’s post, writing: “If someone had told me 20 years ago that’ a leader of a council in the UK would be attempting to score opportunistic points out of a tragedy I’d have despaired of mankind. Yet here we are.”
Kemkaran has recently come under fire for claiming that Reform-led KCC has removed ‘transgender-related books’ from local libraries.
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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