Politics national anthem Reform UK

Reform UK councillors in Kent wanted the national anthem played at the end of council meetings, but it blew up in their faces in the most hilariously petty way

Michael White. Updated August 8th, 2026

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If we’ve learned anything since Reform UK’s success in this summer’s local elections, it’s that its councillors are extremely knowledgeable about and dedicated to the job.

One of the party’s policies has been for some councils to end their meetings with a rendition of the national anthem.

Which brings us to Kent County Council, and one of its meetings last month. At the end of the 5-hour session – which is available as a recorded live stream if you have nothing else to do – the council leader stood for the rendition of God Save The King.

The problem was he didn’t specify how much of the national anthem was to be sung.

So the opposition Green Party councillors, later joined by some from Labour and the Lib Dems, decided to take Reform UK at their word and keep singing the next few verses of the anthem – until the Reform UK leaders got so annoyed and cut off the feed during the fourth verse.

To make it even funnier, the automatic subtitles on the live stream apparently started displaying the lyrics of the US national anthem as the song progressed.

Some of the Reform UK councillors called the stunt “embarrassing” and “attention-seeking behaviour”. Well, they’d know!

People have been relishing the footage ever since Twitter/X user Simon Harris shared it.

Source: Twitter/X/SimonHarrisMBD