A council boss is facing a potential investigation after tweeting a picture of a rival’s election leaflet on a toilet roll holder. Coun Janet Emsley, deputy leader of Rochdale council, posted the snap of Conservative candidate John Hartely’s mailshot - appearing to suggest it be used as loo paper. The picture has now been deleted.
It comes after Mr Hartley - Labour councillor for Littleborough Lakeside between 2012 and 2022 - declared he would be standing for the Tories in the ward he had previously represented. The move infuriated Labour councillors - particularly former ward colleagues Coun Emsley and Coun Tom Besford - with the latter saying it ‘spoke volumes of his moral compass and his values’.
The bad blood appeared to have continued with Coun Emsley’s tweet, which Coun Hartley has dismissed as a ‘childish stunt’. The Manchester Evening News has learned that a complaint about Coun Emsley’s conduct has been lodged with the council by Ian Jackson.
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Mr Jackson is chairman of Littleborough Civic Trust but has made the complaint in a personal capacity. He is understood to support Mr Hartley and have helped with his campaign.
Mr Hartley, who does not use Twitter and was unaware of the post, says he has no intention of making a formal complaint himself. “I just see it as a childish stunt from someone that really should have known better in her capacity and position,” he told the MEN.
“I personally would never do anything of this nature, no matter what party they were standing for or had been elected for in the past, the only harm things like this do is to the political party they are representing as some of the electorate see things like this in bad light.”
He continued: “The best outcome here is for it to be removed and we all move forward running our good clean campaigns sticking to local issues which is what the election in May is really about and I think that's what the residents of Littleborough will want.”
Coun John Taylor, leader of the council’s Conservative group, said he found the photograph to be ‘totally inappropriate’, particularly given Coun Emsley's position as deputy leader of the council.
However, he praised Mr Hartley for demonstrating ‘resilience and strength of character in the way he has handled the situation’. He added: “I'm sure the electorate will bear this type of behaviour in mind when deciding who they choose to be their representative in May."
Coun Emsley declined to comment as the council’s procedure for dealing with such complaints is now under way.
The council did not confirm if it was looking into any specific breach of its code of conduct, instead directing the MEN to the relevant section of its website.
The council’s constitution informs councillors ‘you must not conduct yourself in a manner which could reasonably be regarded as bringing your office or the council into disrepute’.
The authority aims to decide on complaints within 20 working days of receiving them. If it decides to investigate, a draft report is produced for the complainant and councillor to comment on. A final report is then issued.
The council will consider the outcome of the report and may decide to deal with the matter informally or refer the complaint to a standards hearing.
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