By George Lythgoe, Local Democracy Reporting Service
FORMER Tameside Council leader, Cllr Brenda Warrington, will sit on its standards committee – even though she is currently suspended.
The Denton West representative is one of several Labour members currently sidelined a being part of the widely criticised Trigger Me Timbers WhatsApp group.
But despite criticism of the move, she has been allowed to take her place on the panel, despite her current situation.
That was questioned by the Conservatives’ Dan Costello, who suggested she is unfit to sit on the standards committee as she has failed to uphold proper standards herself.
He told the Tameside Council meeting on Tuesday, May 20: “Many of you will remember Cllr Warrington was the executive leader and her conduct in this very chamber was so bad it forced her own party to remove her from office.
“But that could be a matter of opinion.
“What isn’t a matter of opinion is that the councillor is currently suspended from her party. She is suspended for her involvement in the now infamous Trigger Me Timbers WhatsApp group.
“Trigger Me Timbers was a WhatsApp group where councillors, MPs, Labour activists and, most abhorrently, members of the public were mocked and abused.
“The content of that group has been widely shared in various news outlets and I don’t think anyone would describe it as anything close to high standards of conduct.
“In the transcripts from that group, Cllr Warrington has over 1,500 contributions. These contributions include descriptions of people as ‘idiots’, ‘stupid’, ‘peevish’ and even as ‘bonkers.’”
The fallout from the revelation of the group has seen Denton’s MP Andrew Gwynne and Burnley’s Oliver Ryan – who was an Audenshaw councillor at the time – suspended.
Nine councillors, all in Denton bar Mike Smith, Audenshaw’s Charlotte Martin and another ex-leader, Droylsden’s Gerald Cooney, are also independent pending an investigation.
Cllr Costello admitted there was ‘no constitutional reason’ why Cllr Warrington could not be appointed to the committee, but he asked members to ‘examine their own consciences’ on the issue.
But Cllr Joe Kitchen, chair of council business, clarified those matters are currently being investigated and have not yet concluded.
He said: “The appointment of individual members on each of these committees is down to the individual group.
“Like you said, there’ s no constitutional reason why anybody can’t sit on any of these committees.
“Investigations are going on concerning certain matters and those haven’t been concluded yet.
“Until they are, they’re quite entitled to stand on these committees.”