Councillor Adam Kent has instructed libel lawyers to act for him after Conservative Party chairman Kevin Hollinrake made remarks on social media that Kent says were false, defamatory and wholly inaccurate. The deputy leader of Worcestershire County Council was already suspended by the Conservatives when the dispute escalated, turning a local power struggle into an open fight with the party leadership.
Kent said the comments were not only wrong but had been spread far beyond their original audience. "What he has said about me is false, defamatory and wholly inaccurate - and the matter is now with my lawyers," he said.
The row centres on a coalition plan in Worcestershire that brought Conservatives into discussions with the Liberal Democrats, independents and a local Green group in an effort to topple the authority's Reform leadership. That move followed the collapse of the old arrangement after Reform councillor Alan Amos began the process of toppling his own group leader several weeks ago, setting off a sequence of events that left the council vulnerable to a new deal.
Conservative Campaign Headquarters said it did not approve of the arrangement. Kent was then suspended by the party. He said: "I've been suspended by the Conservative Party, pending an investigation that I've been asked by the party not to comment upon." He added that the party had stressed his suspension did not amount to an assumption of wrongdoing and was "merely a neutral and precautionary step."
But the suspension has done little to calm matters. Kent said the chairman sent a letter to the entire Conservative membership and posted it on social media, with the comments then "disseminated and shared widely." He has also criticised the Conservative leadership for interfering in local politics, arguing that the fight over Worcestershire was being pulled into a wider national dispute.
One Conservative Campaign Headquarters spokesman said it was unable to comment. The party's position is that the suspension does not imply guilt, but the practical effect is harder to miss: Kent appears to have little room left inside the Conservatives while the fallout from the coalition deal continues.
The next issue is not whether the row will fade, but whether anyone inside the party can repair it. Kent remains bound by instructions not to discuss the suspension, while the legal threat against Hollinrake has now moved the dispute from party discipline into the hands of lawyers.
