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Reform UK took control of Kent County Council and sent in a unit to find the waste. Nine months later, one of their own councillors said it was not there. He said he wished they had found it — it would have been a better story.

This episode follows the documents. What Reform's national DOGE unit actually did at the eleven councils it runs, what Kent's own DOLGE did, what the money was really spent on, and what happened to the people who asked questions about it.

Every figure in this episode comes from a primary source: council papers, committee minutes, a Freedom of Information response, and the words of the people involved, quoted in full rather than trimmed to fit.

CHAPTERS

00:00:00 Cold open — a better story

00:00:29 Welcome

00:01:13 A flagship, a deadline, and an extra letter

00:05:22 What the unit actually did

00:07:46 The lemon, and a hundred and forty-four pounds

00:10:29 They didn't find it

00:11:50 The man who said the quiet part

00:15:08 What a council is actually for

00:18:12 The letter

00:21:40 The fire authority, and the hole I'm leaving

00:24:55 What you do with it

00:27:05 Sign-off

SOURCES AND CORRECTIONS

Full sourcing notes for this episode are held with the script. If you find an error in it, say so in the comments and it will be corrected on the record — that is the deal on this channel.

News Over Tea. A new one every Wednesday night at ten.

I find the document, and I read you the bit nobody quoted.