Reform UK councillors were left red-faced after the Greens and other opposition parties decided to play them at their own patriotic game.
Kent County Council has had plenty of attention over the last 16 months, ever since Reform UK took charge of England’s biggest local authority.
From disputes over pledges to lower taxes to bitter infighting between Reform councillors, there’s been plenty of drama down in Kent, along with a fair few defections and suspensions.
More recently, Reform decided to rewrite the constitution of Kent County Council, which included a measure for God Save the King to be sang at the end of every full council meeting.
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Last month, councillors got the chance to deliver this display of patriotism for the first time, and Reform councillors proudly sang the famous verse we all know.
But the Greens had other ideas.
As reported by Kent Current, as Reform councillors finished the anthem and started packing away their papers, Green councillors took out lyric sheets of all six verses of God Save the King – and belted out the words with gusto.
Joined by some Labour and Lib Dem councillors, they sang the entirety of the anthem. After all, Reform hadn’t specified how much of God Save the King should be sang at the end of a council meeting.
To add embarrassing insult to injury for Reform, the automatically generated subtitles on the council’s live stream started displaying the lyrics of the US national anthem as the singing continued.
Some Reform councillors shared video of the moment on social media, clearly unimpressed with the stunt from the Greens.
Sharing footage on Facebook, Cllr Robert Mayall said oppositions councillors had “embarrassed themselves.”
This was echoed by his council colleague Cllr Garry Sturley, who accused councillors of “mocking our national anthem” and “attention-seeking behaviour.”
He added that it was “embarrassing for them.”
On the contrary Garry, we think it was simply embarrassing for you!
Speaking to Kent Current, Green councillor Mark Hood said his group had decided to take Reform’s new constitutional rules at face value.
“The Green Group thought singing one verse of the National Anthem dedicated to only one person was a half measure,” he said. “We decided to sing all six and invited colleagues to do likewise.”