A war of words has erupted between a Kent MP and the new leader of Kent County Council.

Labour’s Mike Tapp – the MP for Dover and Deal – wrote to Reform’s Cllr Linden Kemkaran to raise what he called “increasing concern” over how the authority is being run.

In a strongly-worded letter, Mr Tapp said decisions under her leadership appeared “driven more by populist rhetoric than by sound governance or the best interests of Kent’s residents”.

He took particular aim at a recent visit to County Hall by Reform’s controversial “Doge” team - a project he claimed was “inspired by Donald Trump and Elon Musk” and overseen by “unelected, unaccountable and under-qualified individuals”.

Mr Tapp wrote on Saturday: “It is clear that this project is already in disarray. Two of the four appointed individuals have resigned. One, Zia Yusuf, has now returned, amid reports of internal division.

“One of the remaining members, Aaron Banks, remarked that ‘HQ will be popping corks’ at Yusuf’s departure – a comment and turn of events that hardly inspires confidence in the professionalism or seriousness of this operation.”

He added: “Residents and representatives are left in the dark as resignations, reappointments, and internal disputes swirl.

“Frankly, this has not started well.”

Mr Tapp urged the leader to provide “urgent reassurance” that governance would improve, calling for “clarity, accountability and stability – not chaos, infighting and imported gimmicks”.

But Cllr Kemkaran issued a fierce defence of her record to date, rejecting the MP’s concerns and accusing him of lacking ideas and credibility.

“I refute your accusation that my tenure as Leader of KCC has ‘not started well’,” she wrote back yesterday.

“If you think I’ve been wrong in forcing an urgent refocusing of minds within County Hall on the residents of Kent – rather than of Kyiv – beginning a serious efficiency campaign to root out wasteful spending...then I suggest it is you who is truly lost and utterly lacking in ideas to save our county, and eventually our country, from sliding further into financial, social and cultural decline.”

She added that she would be happy to debate the issues “in person” – from “the Leader’s chair in the Leader’s office in Kent County Council”.

She accused the MP of hypocrisy, saying the Labour Party in Westminster had conducted itself in a way that “lends you no authority whatsoever to pass judgment on Reform UK”.

“The first thought that springs to mind when you mention ‘chaos, infighting and imported gimmicks’ is that people who live in glass houses probably shouldn’t throw stones,” she wrote.

Responding to criticism that key spending meetings impacting community events have been cancelled, she added: “The residents of Kent are far more concerned with how KCC is going to deliver the vital public services on which we all depend while trying to make less money go further each year.”

Mr Tapp had also speculated about who might take over as chair of the council’s Doge project, but Cllr Kemkaran dismissed his focus on what she described as “internal staffing matters”.

“I would suggest that your energies as MP for Dover would be better spent in persuading your own Party Leader to locate his backbone and come up with a plan to stop the invasion by the hordes of illegal migrants that land on your constituency shores with alarming regularity,” she wrote.

The exchange is a sign of the rapidly growing political divide at County Hall, which has undergone seismic change following local elections that saw Reform UK seize control of Kent’s top-tier authority last month.

While Mr Tapp has demanded greater transparency and respect for democratic accountability, Cllr Kemkaran has doubled down on what she says is a new era of “common-sense politics” and tough decision-making.

She wrote: “Reform was voted in on a promise to make tough decisions, which is exactly what we are doing. That is why Reform is now in control of Kent County Council and not Labour.”