I ATTENDED the Uttoxeter Town Council meeting as an observer, as all members of the electorate are entitled to do, and I would encourage that others do the same.
The sights that I saw that evening had to be seen to be believed.
Suffice it to say that in response to Mayor David Brookes outrageous comments to another councillor a motion of no confidence in him was tabled. This motion would have been carried, demonstrating the council’s lack of confidence in him as mayor had he not intervened and used his casting vote to save his own skin.
It was raised by Councillor Jerry Latham that surely the mayor should declare an interest in a vote of no confidence in which he was the subject, and therefore he should not have been eligible to vote.
Whilst I realise that under the rules the mayor had no obligation to declare a pecuniary interest, the fact remains that without his vote he would have lost.
The town clerk correctly asserted that it is up to individual members to declare an interest. Therefore there is only one conclusion which I can draw from this sequence of events.
David Brookes does not see that he has any interest in whether the council have any confidence in him.
If as mayor he is prepared to treat his fellow councillors with such disdain as to not express an interest in their opinion of him, it does beg the question of how he feels about the rest of us mere voters doesn’t it? I will post the question to council next month to ask the mayor why he did not feel he should declare an interest, but I wanted the people of Uttoxeter to know how shocked I was by our mayor’s behaviour.
James Russell
