Council Leader refuses to defend plan to put Tory spin-doctor in charge of Council press

2.20.00am BST (GMT +0100) Tue 15th Apr 2003

Council Leader Tony Arbour refused to attend a special Overview and Scrutiny Committee earlier this evening (Monday) to defend his decision to hand control of the Council's Press Office to a former Tory spin-doctor from Westminster City Council.

Tory councillors refused to postpone the meeting until Cllr Arbour could be present to defend his decision and instead voted to let the decision though without any chance for the opposition to question the Leader.

The Cabinet decision to outsource management of the Council's Communications team to the former Tory spin-doctor, who was head of regional press at Conservative Party Central Office for 8 years, was 'called-in' by Liberal Democrat councillors Stephen Knight and David Williams.

Lib Dem Councillor Stephen Knight said: "It is unprecedented for a Cabinet Member to refuse to attend an Overview and Scrutiny Committee to defend their own decision when it has been 'called-in'. Councillor Arbour was clearly scared that the meeting would expose this decision as an abuse of taxpayers' money for party political purposes."

"It appears that normal competitive tendering procedures have been suspended in this case in order to give the contract to a known Tory spin-doctor. Councillor Arbour clearly has contempt for the proper democratic decision making processes of the Council."