Friday brief: Countdown starts for when Wellingborough and Rushden folk can have say on Peter Bone’s bullying scandal
Some news from across our county
Good morning,
This is a shorter than usual Friday brief due to our coverage of the David Mackintosh trial at Warwick Crown Court. If you’ve missed any of our reports from this week they are available on our website.
The recall petition which will decide whether there will be a by-election in the Wellingborough and Rushden constituency will go live soon.
Parliament decided to suspend the area’s long-standing MP Peter Bone on Wednesday evening following an investigation in which allegations of bullying and indecent exposure were upheld against him.
Bone, who denies the incidents, was found to have bullied a former male staffer in 2012 and also indecently exposed himself to the younger man, on a work trip to Madrid.
The man spoke anonymously to the BBC earlier this week, saying the period of working for former accountant Bone and the abuse suffered had ‘left me broken’.
If ten percent of the Wellingborough and Rushden constituency signs the recall petition, then a by-election will be held. Bone has been suspended as a conservative MP and now sits as an independent. Bone’s girlfriend Helen Harrison, who is a councillor on North Northamptonshire Council, is on the approved list of conservative parliamentary candidates for the county and is therefore a possibility to fight for the seat if there is a by-election.
Any by-election held, would probably happen in the new year, however the Labour Party, traditionally considered as the main rivals to the Conservatives for the seat, has yet to begin the process of selecting a parliamentary candidate.
At last night’s full council meeting, North Northamptonshire’s monitoring officer said the authority had been contacted by the speaker of the House of Commons and would administer the petition - which will be available to access on the authority’s website. All constituents will also receive a notice of petition - to let them know about the recall petition and what to do. This will happen around November 3.
NN Journal contacted the Labour Party yesterday to ask about if it had moved the process forward due to the anticipated by-election, but we are yet to receive an answer.
News in brief:
North Northamptonshire Council’s Labour councillors who wore rainbow sashes at the full council meeting last night and stood while a Tory councillor who had previously made a homophobic tweet made a statement, were accused of ‘intimidating behaviour last night.
The councillors were requested to sit down by monitoring officer while Cllr King Lawal, who represents the Queensway Ward, made a statement clarifying a tweet made in June, which offended many members of the LGBTQ community.
Cllr Lawal did not apologise, instead he made a statement saying the tweet, which said Pride was a sin, and said this was ‘an expression of my Christian faith’. He said he did not intend the tweet to cause harassment or alarm.
Before he spoke, the council’s Conservative leader Cllr Jason Smithers said complaints made about Cllr Lawal to the council had followed due process and were now complete. He did not say whether there were any sanctions against Cllr Lawal.
After the meeting, a joint statement issued by the Labour groups leader Cllr Matt Keane and the deputy Cllr Leanne Buckingham said:
“We believed it was important as a Labour Group to show solidarity with the LGBTQIA+ community many of whom have been deeply upset by the tweet from Cllr King Lawal. We dressed in pro Pride colours and stood up to hear his apology. We wanted Cllr Lawal to address the hurt that he caused to the LGBTQIA+ community and its allies. Cllr Lawal has been given the Conservative whip back and we don’t believe he expressed any apology in his statement at tonight’s full council and it certainly did not go far enough to address the hurt felt by many of our residents.”
NN Journal will ask questions of the authority to clarify the position and include them in a follow up report.
Funding for Northamptonshire schools will be about £5.6m worse off than expected after significant technical errors were made by the Department of Education (DfE) earlier this year.
A report sent to both West and North Northamptonshire Councils in early October revealed that they would respectively receive £3m and £2.6m less in Dedicated School Grant (DSG) funding for mainstream schools. This was due to a technical error processing pupil numbers and the current level of funding is now at the correct level.
This comes after both local authorities have also forecast overspends for the 2023-24 year, with West Northants operating on a projected £1.9m overspend and North Northants looking at a forecast £4.9m overspend in the high needs block. A large contributor is the increasing demand for SEND provision across the county, incurring higher costs.
The DSG is a specific grant which is in a separate ring-fenced account to the general fund and is designed for community schools. The allocation of the budget is reported to a council Schools Forum where heads, governors and officials meet.
West Northants Council (WNC), who discussed the budget updates at a Schools Forum meeting on October 18, said that the average secondary school would be £57,970 worse off, and the average primary would be £12,420 down on the original July estimates – reduced by £55 and £45 per pupil respectively.
Report by Nadia Lincoln, Local Democracy Reporter
We published day four of the David Mackintosh trial last night to our paying members. The paywall has now been lifted and the report is available to read below. Another report from today’s court action will be sent out this evening.
Size of donations to accused former MP's political campaign met with ‘astonishment’ by colleague, trial hears
The former chairman of a Northampton Conservative association has told a crown court trial he was ‘astonished’ when he first became aware of large donations made to a prospective MPs election …
Due to our court reporting there will not be a cultural post tomorrow. We will have one again next week.
"Elections are not won by the opposition. They're lost by the incumbent Government"
Girish Kuber 2018 and still the lessons have not been learnt !
King Lawal is a bigot and did not apologies for his homophobic rant. He should be kicked our the Conservative Party and be forced to resign as a Councillor. He's a disgrace. But it appears bigotry is not only tolerated in the Tory party now it's almost become a badge of honour.
What has happenned to the other Wellingborough Tory councillor who tweeted supporting the burning of a Qu'ran? Another neo-fascist tolerated in the Tory party ranks?