Reform lose yet another councillor – Tony Hewitt from Ferryhill town council in County Durham.
This time it’s not for an extra-racist tweet, nor espousing some slightly progressive idea that transgresses the ideological warfare of the Reform leadership.
It’s because his wife wants to enter a gardening competition. Admittedly she’s good at it. They won the top two prizes last year.
But it’s a competition run by the town council – the same town council that he, as a councillor, is a part of. It was thus seen as a potential conflict of interest even though he wouldn’t have been directly involved in the judging.
Per the council’s rules:
Ferryhill Town Council said staff or elected members and their spouses may not enter competitions that it runs, adding “the appearance of any kind of favouritism could make members of the public lose confidence” in the council.
Given the choice between doing the job he was elected for or participating in the gardening competition, he went for the latter – so Ferryhill town council is now another councillor down.
I suppose one less Reform councillor is no great loss, and it’s nice that he wants to make his wife happy. But it’s not a great result for the people he was supposed to represent.