Kieran Mishchuk, the 19‑year‑old Reform UK Swale councillor, has announced his defection to Rupert Lowe’s new outfit, Restore Britain, by way of a social‑media video apparently filmed in his nan’s back garden in Sittingbourne.
Mishchuck has featured centrally in events around the disruption of two meetings of Swale Borough Council in recent months.
In the video, posted yesterday, Mishchuk denounces his former party as “controlled opposition” that has “become part of the establishment”, accusing Reform of complacency, broken promises and “using insults and disrespect to get the upper hand”.
The performance ends with a crescendo of cod‑Churchillian rhetoric, invoking Nelson, Wellington, Cromwell and King Alfred, before urging viewers to “channel the heroism” of Britain’s past to “restore” the nation.
It is the sort of speech that invites comparison with Tony Hancock’s immortal line: “Does Magna Carta mean nothing to you? Did she die in vain?”
Mishchuk’s departure is the latest fracture inside Reform UK, and comes only weeks after he appeared in a BBC documentary, alongside his grandmother, promoting the party.
He now claims there is “a cult around Nigel Farage”, insisting that Lowe, who lost the Reform whip last year after bullying allegations, offers “the true anti‑establishment party”.
Legitimising disruption
Mishchuk’s political trajectory has been visible for some time. As we reported earlier this month, he was prominent amongst local Reform councillors trying to legitimise the anti‑migrant activists who twice disrupted Swale Borough Council meetings during debates on asylum and a so‑called “border emergency”.
Mishchuk seconded the motion that triggered the second disruption, and afterwards joined colleagues in excusing, even indulging, the far‑right agitators who shouted about “demographic replacement”, heckled speakers, and forced proceedings to be suspended.
Those activists included Harry Hilden and Jodie Scott (“Missus Kent”), both prominent in the local anti‑migrant scene.
After the second disruption, Mishchuk posted a Facebook video portraying Reform councillors as victims of supposed establishment hostility, a video eagerly circulated by the same extremists whose supporters had caused £10,000 worth of damage to the council building in December.
Consolidated
Meanwhile, Restore Britain has consolidated its foothold at County Hall, where seven former Reform councillors have formed a new group under Cllr Paul Thomas, with Maxine Fothergill as deputy.
The party plans to contest the forthcoming Cliftonville by‑election, triggered by the jailing of Reform councillor Daniel Taylor for domestic abuse. If the Electoral Commission has not processed its registration in time, its candidate will stand as an Independent.
Mishchuk’s defection may say less about ideological conviction than about the gravitational pull of a new hard‑right vehicle eager for youthful frontmen or women, and untroubled by the company they keep.
