Labour trio accused in 'gatecrash' claim were not even there
THREE Labour councillors who were accused of gatecrashing a Liberal Democrat meeting have been cleared of any wrongdoing – because they were not even there.
Labour councillors, followed by the Derby Telegraph and television cameras, tried to present a petition to the ruling party objecting to the proposed removal of CCTV cameras in Allenton.
-
NO ENTRY: Councillor Ranjit Banwait is pictured trying to present his petition over CCTV cameras in Allenton to council leader Hilary Jones.
The opposition councillors knocked on the door of the Lib Dem cabinet meeting in July to hand over the petition. But the Lib Dems said it was a private meeting and refused to allow them in.
Following the incident, Derby City Council leader Hilary Jones made an official complaint to the council's standards committee, which monitors councillors' behaviour.
She named councillors Chris Williamson, Ranjit Banwait, Dave Roberts, Farreed Hussain, Barbara Jackson, Hardyal Dhindsa, Paul Bayliss and Sara Bolton in her complaint.
But a sub-committee of the standards committee concluded that no action should be taken against Mr Bayliss, Ms Bolton and Mr Dhindsa.
The investigating officer concluded Ms Bolton and Mr Dhindsa "took no part in the events on July 8, 2009 – they were not in Derby at that time."
And he said Mr Bayliss was present outside the Council House for the photo shoot but did not enter the building.
The three councillors are now demanding an apology.
Mr Bayliss said: "I think it is a shame that Councillor Jones didn't get her facts right before throwing wild accusations about.
"I'm now advised of the even more ridiculous position that I can make a complaint about her to the standards board for not treating me with respect. I will not be making such a complaint because I think we need to draw a line under this ridiculous farce."
Fellow councillor Mr Dhindsa said he believed Mrs Jones had "assumed" he was present because he is a member of the Labour shadow cabinet.
He said: "You have got to get your facts right before making allegations and Hilary Jones should acknowledge that and apologise."
Ms Bolton said: "I wasn't even in Derby at the time. I think Hilary Jones just put down all the Labour shadow cabinet."
The complaints against the remaining councillors are still being investigated.
Mrs Jones was not available to comment.
12 Comments
View all
by RamRaiPur, Derby
Tuesday, January 05 2010, 2:54PM
“This is a joke :)
Knock Knock, Who's there ?
Don't know !? ;)”
by Chris, Derby
Monday, December 21 2009, 3:19PM
“There are procedures for making representations to the council. Labour members would have gone ape if the Lib Dems had crashed an official meeting of their cabinet! They are the yobs of politics in Derby, why do you think that so many Labour councillors are dumping the Labour party to become either independent or joining one of the other parties?
Labour have been bandwaggon jumping at every opportunity, they have behaved despicably since losing to the Lib Dems, and from comments by certain Labour councillors they are most agrieved at losing the income that they had as members of the cabinet!
You only have to watch the on-line webcasts of the Council meetings to see how Labour perform, they depend on headline grabbing tactics and their Leader, Chris Williamson, will rant and rave for 20 minutes at meetings to ensure hat time runs out for the debate, he is usually criticising the voters for voting Lib Dem.
Also remember that most of the things tthat are now going wrong were actually brought in by the Labour council, the Lib Dems have been left with the mess!”
by Peter, Mickleover
Monday, December 21 2009, 2:16PM
“The problem here is that without a shadow of a doubt the Liberal Democrats do not have a clue what they are doing, they are not fit to govern this city and are completely out of there depth AND the Labour group are not used to being in opposition they have resorted to bully boy childish politics in a bid to humiliate the opposition. Sadly, both these parties are a good example why politics is murky, muddied and led by unprincipled people who would sell their own families down the river if the end justified their aims!”
by Jason, Allenton
Monday, December 21 2009, 2:11PM
“Cllr. Banwait would set fire to himself if he thought there was a photo opportunity.”
by Marcus, Littleover
Monday, December 21 2009, 2:09PM
“Regardless of who was or was not there - what Ranjit Banwait and Chris Willimason did was nothing short of gutter politics - a photo opportunity to make themselves look good! They both should be ashamed...”
by Ben, Derby
Monday, December 21 2009, 1:29PM
“Hilary Jones = Waste of taxpayers money”
by Voltaire, man who knows everything
Monday, December 21 2009, 1:11PM
“This lot couldn't run a chimps tea party. Sack the lot of 'em. That'll save the taxpayer a fortune.”
by Angela, Derby
Monday, December 21 2009, 12:19PM
“I am fed up of struggling to pay my council tax when it's wasted by the idiots who run the council. If I refuse to pay it no doubt they would take me court for non-payment.”
by Rob, Derby
Monday, December 21 2009, 11:09AM
“The whole lot of them are a bunch of Clowns.
Stop wasting taxpayers money!”
by CB, Derby
Monday, December 21 2009, 9:56AM
“Oh my God. An official complaint because someone knocked on a door. How many man hours are being wasted investigating this? This is not what i pay council tax for.”