Councillor resigns after cannabis allegations

The BBC report that Farooq Ahmed has resigned as a Labour councillor in Rochdale "after a film allegedly showing him smoking cannabis in 2010" was handed to the local Labour MP Simon Danczuk and the media outlets.

But Mr Ahmed denies he taking cannabis. He says:

"It wasn't cannabis, I was just playing along - it was a menthol cigarette."

He said there was "a conspiracy to try and take me out and certain individuals have put me down".

"I'm not going to stop until I've taken legal action and proved my innocence," he said. But he was choosing to step down because he had "had enough of all this backstabbing."

The Labour Group Chief Whip, Cllr Jacqui Beswick, had made the request that he put his explanation in writing, which sounds reasonable. Given that he refused it also sounds that his suspension from the Labour Group was proposed. But as with the earlier post about Slough one is left wondering just how comradely some of these Labour Groups are.