He believes the council’s leadership “no longer have the electorate’s best interest at heart”
A Conservative councillor who launched an extraordinary attack on his party’s leadership at a meeting last month has quit the group and will sit as an Independent. Councillor Paul Clark had claimed he lost his places on two committees at West Northamptonshire Council for “asking direct questions” of the authority.
The Conservatives’ group leadership said it was “both surprised and dismayed” by Cllr Clark’s resignation and that it had been given no prior notice of his decision. It said he had only been asked to behave like “every single Conservative Party councillor in England”.In a statement, the leadership said after going through a mediation process, it had offered Cllr Clark a place on the council’s scrutiny committee and asked him to agree to the party’s “standard set of rules”.
Last month Cllr Clark said he had been critical of the land sale at Sixfields in Northampton to a company owned by Northampton Town Football Club and other issues. He accused the council’s leadership of taking a “ruthless decision” to “silence” him by removing him from the authority’s corporate scrutiny and north planning committee.
Cllr Clark was elected to the authority in 2021, in what is his first councillor role. He said will “continue to serve with the same dedication and commitment that I have done for the last two years” and “continue my pursuit of truth…and ask questions in the public interest”.
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