George Madgwick, party leader on Hampshire county council, faces charges related to four teenagers between 2008 and 2021

Reform UK’s leader on Hampshire county council has been charged with 12 counts of rape and one of distributing indecent images of a child.

George Madgwick, 37, who is a councillor in Portsmouth and leads the Reform group on the council, was a prominent voice linked to recent protests in the town connected to the arrival of asylum seekers on small boats.