As snow began to fall outside, Wiltshire Council’s cabinet meeting also turned frosty when a huge row ended with a councillor storming out after the leader told him to “get off” his “soap box”.
Independent councillor Jon Hubbard told council leader Richard Clewer that his behaviour was a "disgrace” before he left, suggesting that councillors’ ability to ask questions had been “stripped away”.
Cllr Clewer strongly opposed this, maintaining that councillors had to submit questions in advance to ensure cabinet was about “the business of council” rather than “political grandstanding”.
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Sparks began to fly when the leader of the Liberal Democrats on Wiltshire Council, Ian Thorn, challenged Cllr Clewer on the decision to no longer engage with the Melksham News.
The dispute in question had reached a tipping point at the end of October after the council accused the local paper of not being “impartial” in a “campaign” which “put pressure on the council to advertise statutory notices with them”, which the Melksham News described as “both misleading and unfounded”.
The argument on Tuesday, November 19, further escalated when Cllr Thorn attempted to ask additional questions on the progress of the Stone Circle construction at the Priestley Grove site in Calne.
He was denied this opportunity and both councillors began shouting over each other, with Cllr Clewer telling Cllr Thorn the meeting was not “an open debating chamber”.
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Tensions peaked, however, when Cllr Thorn brought up Cllr Clewer’s decision to publicly comment on the complaint made against Cllr Thorn and his deputy leader, Cllr Gordon King, after the last full council meeting.
A leaked image of the complaint statement revealed that Cllr King was accused of reaching over to use the voting console of Cllr Thorn whilst he was absent.
Cllr Thorn has since been cleared of wrongdoing, but the council is unable to comment on Cllr King’s alleged involvement due to the confidential nature of Wiltshire Council complaints.
Speaking at the cabinet meeting, Cllr Thorn claimed Cllr Clewer’s comment went against the council’s constitution.
He said: “It just seems to me that for the leader of the council to do that is particularly poor, particularly ill-judged and I think probably deserves an apology for your actions, quite frankly.”
He went on to refer to the “cowardly individuals” who leaked the complaint, at which point he was interrupted by Cllr Clewer who told him he was “back onto politics”.
Cllr Thorn countered: “It’s not politics, it’s about my life and my experience, and an attempt to get me engaged with the bloody police!”
Cllr Clewer argued that his public comment was “generic” and concerned “the issue of how voting is carried out”.
Cllr Thorn claimed there was a “moral vacuum” within the leadership of the council, at which point Cllr Clewer instructed that the meeting should move on.
Shouting from the back of the room, Cllr Hubbard asked why no further questions were allowed.
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Cllr Clewer noted: “You’re trying to say you’ve never had to submit a question in advance – we changed this well over three years ago now because of the sheer number of political questions that were being asked by Cllr Thorn, to be specific, because this meeting is about the business of the council and not a free-for-all for people to come in with questions on the day.”
He added: “I’m not going to have anyone else shouting over this meeting, if you wanted to submit questions, you could have done so in advance like everyone else.”
When Cllr Hubbard argued the point, Cllr Clewer told him to “get off” his “soap box”.
Cllr Hubbard said: “Your behaviour this morning, Cllr Clewer, has been a disgrace.”
Watching Cllr Hubbard leave, Cllr Clewer concluded: “You may not like this, you may want to storm off in a huff to get yourself a press headline, you go for it.”
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