12 November - Questionable Councillors
This
is a picture of Cabinet Member for Housing, Brian Bishop, taking a photo of
Reform Councillors just before last week’s Full Council meeting began. Reform
Bexley alleges he shouted abuse but as the webcast was muted at the time there
is no evidence of that.
The incident raises an interesting question. Is the Council chamber
a public
space where there are no restriction on photography or is it a private place
where it would not be legal to take photographs without permission of the subject?
I would contend that it is a private place to which the public has access
and the Monitoring Officer would appear to agree with me.
Before every Council meeting there is an announcement to the effect that
visitors must not take photos of visitors without their permission.
That being the case Councillor Bishop must be subject to a Code of Conduct
complaint for breaking Council rules. Who is going to submit it?