Friday, October 03, 2008

That London councillor who lives in Australia

How amusing, back in Spetember I asked whether it was possible to be a councillor in Lodnon whilst lviing in Australia. Then, following on from that post, I noted that the Councillor in question, Danny Thorpe (Shooters Hill Ward, Greenwich) had flown in and then straight back out so that he could keep his seat on the Council.

Now it appears that the Deputy Leader of the Council may have actually stumped up the cash for his flight, and the most hilarious thing is that he has no shame about admitting that one of their councillors is living thousands of miles away and working in another country whilst still, allegedly, representing his constitutents.
"His wish to remain a member of the council and to continue as a young person in public life was demonstrated by his commitment to return to London to ensure he could continue in this capacity when his travel opportunity concludes in the next few months. He intends to return and continue to carry on his work as a councillor. In the meantime, modern communications mean that he is in regular touch with the leader of the council and with his co-councillors on matters of concern to his constituents."
Called me old fashioned if you must, but if you're a councillor you don't fuck off to Australia for a year whilst still thinking you can represent anyone. If I was the Lib Dems I would be pushing this one quite a lot, after all, they had a councillor sod off to America and he was forced to resign.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

We've got a transatlantic councillor in Bristol as well. Usual deal - Cllr Shirley Marshall flies back for the minimum number of meetings to keep her seat and allowances.

Although, now I look I haven't spotted her name on the minutes of a meeting recently.

Anonymous said...

This deserves wider publicity. Suggest you forward it to PE's Rotten Boroughs column.

Anonymous said...

Is this like that other Lib Dem Councillor who lives in America?

CC said...

I wonder whether he's declared the flight on his register of interests? I've sent an FOI to find out...