Mike Hancock investigation cost Portsmouth council taxpayers £25,000

Portsmouth City Council has spent £25,000 hiring a QC to determine if Cllr Mike Hancock, a Lib Dem councillor, has broken the Council's code of conduct. Cllr Hancock is also an MP but has resigned the Lib Dem whip due to a civil court case where he faces allegations of sexual assault.

The principle of being innocent until proven guilty is important to remember in these cases. That still leaves the consideration of whether those in public office should expect to carry on as normal until the verdict. I don't think it is an easy one. Yet in Cllr Hancock's case the record of misconduct is considerable. Where is the logic in him being allowed to retain the Lib Dem whip in Portsmouth City Council but not in the House of Commons?

Not only that, but Cllr Hancock retains the portfolio of the Council's Cabinet Member for Planning, Regeneration and Economic Development.

Cllr Hancock has refused to answer questions from his own council's investigation on the grounds that a court case is pending. Surely under the circumstances there would be more suitable choices for Cabinet Member for Planning, Regeneration and Economic Development, at least until after the court case?

All town halls should fly the flag at half-mast on Wednesday

The official guidance from the College of Arms is clear. So far as "flags on buildings belonging to central and local government" the following should be observed:

On the day of the funeral, the flag should be flown at half-mast from dawn to dusk.

For those interested the general protocol is also covered:

Q. When should the Union Flag be flown at half-mast?

A. Occasions on which the Union Flag is to be flown at half-mast:

• from the announcement of the death of the Sovereign until the funeral
• in the following cases, half-mastings will be by special command from Her Majesty:
• the death of a member or near relative of the Royal Family or the funeral of members of the Royal Family
• the funerals of foreign Ruler
• the funerals of Prime Ministers and ex-Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom
• the funerals of First Ministers and ex-First Ministers of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland (unless otherwise commanded by the Sovereign, this only applies to flags in their respective countries)
• any other occasions as commande
  
• The Department of Culture, Media and Sport will inform Government departments of any other occasions when Her Majesty has given a special command.

Of course overwhelmingly this is being followed. It is something that decent people of all political persuasions wish to respect.

Labour councillors celebrating Margaret Thatcher's death

The Labour Party supposedly "categorically condemns any celebration of Lady Thatcher's death." But does that condemnation amount to taking any action against their members who are participating in such vile activities?

Cllr Tony Larkin, a Labour member of Oldham Council, wrote on an online forum:

"Ding dong the witch is dead."

He included his title of Cllr in his message - no doubt keen to dignify the comment by stressing his formal status.

With a certain lack of imagination Cllr Steven Frear, a Sandwell Labour councillor, posted an identically worded message on Facebook.

Cllr Linda Marshall of Durham County Council said she was raise a glass.

Who will monitor the Monitoring Officers?

Bob Neill MP secured an interesting Westminster Hall debate recently on the Standards regime for local councillors. The thrust of the case was that while legislation has been changed to give councillors greater freedom of speech at local level there is still some overzealous interpretation by council bureaucrats - either due to ignorance or a desire to keep councillors in their place.

Another problem is when opposition and administration councillors are busy making complaints against each other - some vexatious, some genuine - and the Monitoring Officer also works close with the administration.

Mr Neill reported on Tower Hamlets:

That authority has a directly elected mayor. He is an independent, but it is well known that he has close connections with the Respect party. The mayor is supported by sufficient independent members to ensure that he has the blocking third to get the necessary budgets and mayoral policies through. However, throughout his time, there has been a history of vexatious complaints against members of the opposition Conservative and Labour parties—Labour is actually the largest party—made by members of the mayor’s cabinet. Councillors appointed by the mayor to his cabinet have made complaints particularly against the leaders of the Labour and Conservative groups. Sometimes the complaints have not come to fruition; in other circumstances, they have. That causes real concern.

Haringey Labour councillor expelled

Cllr Alan Stanton, who represents the Tottenham Hale Ward on Haringey Council, has had the Labour whip withdrawn from him.

Some will regard Cllr Stanton's concern that Haringey Council isn't left wing enough as idiosyncratic. His particular quarrel has been over the appointment of Nick Walkley as the chief executive. Mr Walkley was previously at Barnet and the objection seemed to be that there were objections to the policies in Barnet. This misses the point that policies is decided by the elected councillors not the bureaucrats.

However clearly Haringey is a council particularly in need of transparency and accountability. It is a council in need of independent minded councillors who relish holding the administration to account. Cllr Stanton may not always get it right with his criticisms but he shows a brave and rigorous spirit which is welcome. Last month I noted that the Council employs more union officials than gardeners. The social work scandals are all to well known. It's schools are the worst in London. There is, of course, an ideological aspect to this. But also mismanagement and a culture of secrecy, arrogance and complacency.

Labour councillor apologises for "lamb dressed as mutton" comment

Cllr Phil Rackley, a Labour councillor in Basildon, has apologised to Cllr Mo Larkin, a Conservative councillor currently serving as the Mayor. Cllr Rackley had posted comments under a picture of Cllr Larkin which said she looked like “lamb dressed as mutton” on the site.

After an official complaint to the Joint Standards Committee board, whose chairman is a Conservative councillor Cllr Tony Archer, the committee debated the matter for two and a half hours. It concluded that found that Cllr Rackley had acted in his official capacity as a councillor and that he was in breach of code of conduct and as the comments were disrespectful. His representative claimed they were complimentary. (Had he intended to write "mutton dressed as lamb"?)

Cllr Rackley now says:

“I would like to apologise to the mayor for the comments that I made on the save the Gloucester Park Facebook page.

"It was certainly not my intention to cause any offence or distress to the mayor and I very much regret that the mayor felt the need to take the action she has, but understand that this reflects the feeling the mayor had when made aware of my comments.

“I very much regret any distress and upset my taking part in the Facebook caption competition caused and hope that the mayor accepts it was not done to cause her any personal offence or harm the relationship that exists between elected members and the office of mayor of the council.”

Two Labour councillors in Southampton quit to form rival group

One of the most disappointing set of local election results this year was Labour gaining control of Southampton Council from what had been an excellent Conservative administration under the leadership of Cllr Royston Smith. Among the many innovative policies introduced the one I especially liked was the Council Tax discount for Special Constables - now being copied from Trafford to London.

Anyway it was always going to a tough battle for the Conservatives at a time when Labour were ahead nationally. Since Labour took charge in the City they have proved themselves pretty shambolic.

Two Labour councillors, Cllr Don Thomas and Cllr Keith Morrell  have quit to form their own group in protest at budget cuts to a swimming pool.

Cllr Morrell had earlier resigned as a Cabinet Member. The council leader Cllr Richard Williams claimed that Cllr Morrell had resigned due to ill health. He instructed council staff to issue a statement making that claim. However that was not true, the resignation was due to a policy dispute. Emails seen by the Southampton Echo show that this wasn't some misunderstanding but that Cllr Williams had lied.

Labour councillor suspended in Harrow after child porn arrest

Cllr. Brian Gate, has been suspended as a Labour councillor in Harrow and has resigned as Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, Schools & Families following his arrest for
suspicion of possessing child pornography.

This takes place against a backdrop of service failures in the Council's Children’s Services with various damning reports coming out cataloguing how bad things have become.

An Ofsted report on safeguarding children said the council's services “require improvement”,   children are on protection plans “for too long without evidence that their circumstances are improving."  There was also poor management in the provision of health visitors and school nurses. 

Another report by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation was highly critical of the Council's Youth Offending work. It said: “'Drastic improvement' needed in Harrow to protect public from young offenders."

Labour councillor in Thurrock opposes Abu Hamza's extradition

Cllr Aaron Kiely, a councillor in Thurrock, faces being suspended from the Labour Party, after sending a tweet opposing the extradition of Abu Hamza.

Cllr Kiely said:

'British government deporting British citizens to the bastion of human rights that is the USA #shame'

Cllr John Kent, the Labour leader of the council, says:

Warrington Labour councillor suspended over computer hacking allegations

Cllr Chris Vobe, a councillor in Warrington has been suspended by the Labour Party. Cheshire police are investigating Cllr Vobe over alleged hacking of computer accounts. He is the son of the Labour MP for Warrington, Helen Jones.

Another Labour councillor Cllr Hitesh Patel was suspended from the Party last month. Cllr Patel is accused of leaking information to the press.

Cllr Patel says:

“There are serious questions for Helen Jones MP to answer about the conduct and behaviour of her son, Cllr Chris Vobe towards democratically elected Labour councillors in Warrington and I expect to be exonerated.”