By Arundhati Mukherjee
TRIGGER Me Timbers, three words that have dominated Denton’s politics for more than a year. Now as six councillors involved in the now infamous WhatsApp group face a standards hearing, The Correspondent’s Arundhati Mukherjee soaked up the atmosphere, the sights and the sounds.
THE CORRIDOR inside Dukinfield Town Hall filled up long before the ‘Trigger Me Timbers’ standards hearing started.
Current and former Tameside councillors gathered in small clusters, speaking in animated hush.
The infamous WhatsApp scandal has cast a long shadow – but deliberate, almost defiant, humour attempted to cut through the anxiety.
When the doors opened, people made their way into the bright George Hatton Hall, a spacious Victorian-style chamber.
Six chairs had been placed facing the panel lay conspicuously empty.
Panel members Cllr Betty Affleck, Cllr Jackie Lane, Cllr Doreen Dickinson and Cllr Joe Kitchen and others looked sombre, often keeping their eyes down as the hearing started.
Independent investigator Linda Comstive and James Goudie KC were seated and the atmosphere reflected the gravity of the alleged breaches of public trust linked to the WhatsApp scandal.
Of the six councillors under investigation, only former council leader Cllr Brenda Warrington attended in person.
Sitting alone with files, pads and a tablet for company, she took notes and rarely looked up.
The other councillors, Allison Gwynne, George Newton, Jack Naylor, and George Jones – and now former Cllr Claire Reid – did not attend and sent written statements instead.
The gallery sat intently as Ms Comstive outlined the allegations in strict reference to the Nolan Principles of public duty and the Localism Act 2011 and detailed the process and scale of the investigation, which included a review of a three-year-long WhatsApp transcript of the TMT group, comprising 39,666 chats, and interviews with 17 individuals, including the whistleblower and the main complainants, was met with rapt attention in the gallery.
One of the onlookers, Conservative Cllr Liam Billington – himself no stranger to standards hearings and who turned up in a red Make America Great Again hat, stood up, quietly shared a comment and a grin with Denton community activist Tony Moran, then left.
There were occasional laughs during some legal submissions, especially when an appeal for a private hearing from three of the councillors over privacy under scrutiny or fairness towards them was mentioned.
As the afternoon went on, Ms Comstive’s voice became softer and nearly monotone as she read findings about the absent councillors.
Then she looked up at the gallery and said more clearly: “Allison Gwynne failed in her duty. She also did not cooperate with the investigation whatsoever.”
Some national press members closed their shorthand notebooks and left the chamber.
When Ms Comstive finished summarising the 94-page report and the panel finished their deliberation, only 15 minutes were left. Cllr Warrington requested for a short pause to collect her thoughts before responding.
With time running out because of an apparent 4pm cut off, Mr Goudie KC suggested she start her response when the hearing resumes at 10am the next day.
With her back to the gallery, Cllr Warrington’s shoulders eased. She sighed and looked toward the setting sun. The jug of water beside her was now empty.
Among those attending was Mel Anderson, present on behalf of complainant Cllr Kaleel Khan, who could not be there. She was sending him updates during the hearing.
“These are people elected to represent us,” she told The Correspondent.
“The language, the racism, the way ordinary residents were spoken about, it’s shocking. Outrageous! They’re here to represent us. How dare they demean people like that?”
The reactions to Cllr Warrington’s statement will be very interesting indeed.