According to Coun Brown 'This post had been left open since the beginning of the year'; odd that, given that my partner was doing the job until the last days of February, leaving it vacant only during March and April while lawyers and managers poured over details of the appointment process to be followed.

According to Coun Brown my partner was "the prime mover in selecting and de-selecting all Labour candidates".

I know it's a while since Mr Brown left the Labour Party, but if he thinks any one man controls Labour in Blyth Valley, or that man is my partner, then he must have mistaken the Labour Party for his supposedly Independent group.

Every external individual who has looked at this whole sorry affair has argued my partner is innocent of any wrongdoing.

The only person who appears not to believe this is Coun Brown.

The worst of it all, of course, is that my partner cannot now defend himself because of his contract of employment.

It is a disgrace that a councillor should pursue this course against a defenceless man via the press instead of the district auditor or the courts.

If Coun Brown had had to live through three months of my partner being without a permanent job, with the threat of wages that he had earned being reclaimed from him because of an error that was not of his making, and his personal life and employment being discussed in the council chamber for all to explore and criticize, he would not be so quick to rush to judgement.

CAROL BRUCE
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