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News and Comment August 2023

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22 August (Part 1) - Here we go again, sadly

Code of ConductEmailed messages like that three paragraphs below, well intended though they are, are a little bit worrying for they suggest a misunderstanding of my position on the Conservative’s Mayoral event held in the Council Chamber. Yes it was technically in breach of Paragraph 7.2b of the Code of Conduct rules but it shouldn’t be.

It would be amazing if the rebuilt £42 million Woolwich Building Society headquarters did not include Committee Rooms for use of political parties and that is entirely consistent with the needs of democracy in the borough; and if the room is not big enough or sufficiently prestigious for guests then why not use a more appropriate room?

Who cares? Well @tonyofsidcup did and not for the first time our views differed.

The reader’s email…


For balance, Labour often use civic offices for meetings that are not strictly council business.
Training their political candidates who are not in possession of a council pass is just one example.
They are all as bad as each other.


Very probably, but for me that is not the issue. For 14 years almost to the day BiB has tried to expose the dishonesty within Bexley Council and I thought with some success. The number of Councillor bad eggs has almost fallen off the scale but senior officers, presumably aware that their jobs depend on it, too often stray from the straight and narrow.

Over the past two days I have come by two pieces of documentary evidence which confirm that the Mayoral Election meeting was entirely political while the Monitoring Officer swears that it was not. If you cannot rely on a Monitoring Officer being honest and transparent all is lost.

I contemplated going directly to the police alleging Misconduct in Public Office. An untruthful Monitoring Officer is the epitome of malfeasance and cannot be tolerated. I wrote a long blog on the subject at dawn this morning but guided by the wise words of a Councillor friend I stood on the brake pedal.

I did however suggest to @tonyofsidcup that he might go down the Misconduct route but he confirmed that our views differ and that his target was the Leader. Since then I believe he may have changed his mind and come around to my point of view.

As a result, things are developing more quickly than anticipated and to ensure that the Press is reliably informed the following is published earlier than I at first considered appropriate. But this is serious stuff and maybe needs to be tackled in a more forceful manner.


Dear Ms. Narebor,

A month ago Mr. Shvorob sent me a copy of his complaint against the Council Leader alleging that the meeting with the Conservative Mayoral candidates breached the Code of Conduct rules on using Council resources for political purposes.

It seemed to me at the time that and it still does that if Councillors gathering in Committee Rooms to discuss strategy and perhaps overflowing into other rooms is a breach of Section 7.2b, then consideration should be given to amending those rules.

However instead of dismissing the complaint as too trivial to contemplate you chose to accept the rule but make out that the meeting was not political but “business”. There is a strong implication that Councillors of all parties and none were welcome and that Mayoral candidates from every party were present.

You specifically state that the absence of the Labour party and other Mayoral candidates does not mean that the Council’s premises were used for a Conservative Party event but clearly they were.

Susan Hall the Conservative Mayoral candidate said it was a Conservative Group event, as did her rival Moz Hossain  who used that very word. Two Bexley Conservative Councillors are on the record saying the same. Additionally the Labour Leader confirmed that he was “not expecting an invite as it is an internal Conservative party matter”.

Yet you have gone out of your way to portray it as a regular Council business event in order to deflect a rule breach of no consequence whatever.

A Monitoring Officer who is not totally honest and transparent is at the opposite end of the rule breaching spectrum.

I am sorely tempted to report you to the police with an allegation of Misconduct in Public Office.

Can you think of any reason why I should not do so?

yours sincerely,

Malcolm Knight
(Resident DA17 5RJ)

 

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