1 June - Did he or did he not? Did she or did she not?
The
man who was abused by councillor Downing for daring to be hard of hearing sent
me the letter he received from the Standards Committee. I haven’t got it any
more but I quoted from it on 16th May. It said that councillor Downing’s response could
be considered disrespectful.
What I didn’t know is that two members of the Bexley Council Monitoring Group also
complained. I’ve just received copies of the council’s replies and I'm confused. Whilst one
confirms Downing showed “disrespect” the other declared him innocent. I shall assume
the former, I remember it well, but apparently not everyone does.
Downing opened his mouth before engaging his brain appropriately enough at the
Crime and Disorder Committee meeting,
a meeting at which Fire Commander Cyril O’Brien was present. Members of BCMG engaged him in
conversation at the recent
police meeting. He claimed not to be able to remember anything at all about
Downing’s outburst. Fire! Fire! Pants on fire?
Note: Paragraph 3 of the Members’ Code of Conduct says “You
must treat others with respect” and “you must not do anything which may cause
your authority to breach any of the equality enactments (as defined in section
33 of the Equality Act 2006).
Another issue
revisited is the FOI response from the GLA about
council leader Teresa O’Neill’s claim
that Boris had offered her paid employment at City Hall. Mick Barnbrook, an English Democrat candidate at the recent
election had made the Freedom of Information request to see if Boris had made offers. The
response was an emphatic “No”
but I have just spotted a possible Get Out of Jail Free card for Ms. O’Neill.
Mick’s response answers a different question. i.e. the GLA had made no offers. Mick definitely asked if
Boris Johnson had offered which isn’t the same thing at all and bureaucrats have this nasty
habit of twisting words to mislead the unwary. Mick has been sent back to the GLA to get his
actual question answered and not one they may have preferred him to have asked.