There
is one big difference between Bob Stewart MP (Conservative, Beckenham)
suggesting that Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei should go back to Bahrein if he
doesn’t like it here and John Davey (Conservative, West Heath) suggesting that
Nazainin Zaghari-Ratcliffe might be
better off back in Iran than becoming an activist for the Labour Party. It
is that we will eventually discover all the circumstances of Mr. Stewart’s
outburst because he is to appear in Court because of it.
In Bexley the Monitoring Officer has refused to say anything at all about the
Davey case when asked under FOI how the decision to absolve Councillor
from the consequences of his unfortunate Tweet was reached.
It doesn’t surprise me in the slightest. If you are running a dishonest Council given to occasional bouts of corruption and criminality a
pliable Monitoring Officer would be a huge advantage.
In recent years Bexley Council has employed one who was not registered with
either the Law Society or The Bar Council as required by the job description, one who over time sparked several anonymous
messages to BiB alleging misdemeanours of a sexual nature, another who had been
admonished in Court for “reprehensible
behaviour” based on favours to friends and cost the Council employer a five figure sum in costs with compensation on top.
Then there was a Monitoring Officer who came and went very quickly and one must wonder why and now Bexley has by far the highest number of
Councillors living in fear of their lives protected by a sympathetic M.O.