Reform UK councillor Peter Osborne faces probe over punch threat

A Reform UK councillor who threatened to punch a colleague in the jaw in a WhatsApp group chat is subject to a formal complaint.

Kent County Council (KCC) Liberal Democrat leader Antony Hook, who is leading the action, said Peter Osborne’s behaviour risked creating a “hostile environment”.

Mr Hook has lodged a case with the council’s monitoring officer, who may investigate and send it to the Standards Committee. The move is backed by six cross-party councillors.

Reform UK described the complaint as “faux outrage”.

Mr Osborne sent the message in a group chat after another Reform member leaked a video of a heated virtual meeting to a national newspaper.

He wrote: “I’m hoping this mole is a bloke so I can punch him right in the jaw.”

The complaint also calls into question whether KCC leader Linden Kemkaran’s and her chief whip Maxwell Harrison’s allegedly condoned what Mr Osborne did, reports the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The case has been supported by Bill Barrett (Independent Reformers), Mark Hood (Green Party), Harry Rayner (Conservatives), Connie Nolan and Alister Brady (Labour) and Paul Thomas (The Independent Group).

Mr Hook said: “Councillors are committed to following a code of conduct.

“Telling a WhatsApp group of a large number of colleagues that you want to punch one of your colleagues clearly risks creating a hostile environment and is not acceptable.

“It is also concerning if people who saw it did not challenge it.”

Mr Barrett, of the Independent Reformers, said: “This type of behaviour cannot be tolerated and needs to be investigated at the highest level as soon as possible.”

Green Party group leader Mark Hood added: “In all the years I have been a councillor, I have never come across a situation where a councillor has offered violence to another as a solution.”

Conservative group leader Harry Rayner said: “I find threats of violence towards other councillors to be abhorrent.”

When the “punch” message was about to be made public Mr Osborne issued a statement which said: “I said what I said in anger at the betrayal of a number of individuals who I had considered my friends and colleagues.

“However, I accept that is never an excuse for violence. That was never my intention. My comments were made out of frustration at the circumstances, which I’m sure many will understand, rather than malice.”

A Reform UK Kent spokesman said: “This is little more than faux outrage from a group of non-entities who should be focusing on representing their residents rather than playing embarrassing political games.”