Lord Mayor investigation held in secret

THE PRESS and public have this morning been banned from a hearing into alleged inappropriate comments made by Oxford's Lord Mayor Alan Armitage.

The standards investigation is now being held at Oxford Town Hall in secret.

An investigation was launched last July after complaints were made to the county council about alleged comments Mr Armitage made to a schoolgirl in June.

Lib Dem councillors Gwynneth Royce and Mike Gotch, along with Green councillor Dick Wolff and Labour’s James Fry voted in favour of holding the meeting in private.

Labour councillors Gill Sanders, Susanna Pressel and Val Smith did not vote.

Comments(12)

EMBOX2 says...
1:31pm Wed 16 Jan 13

Why? What are they trying to hide?

Sandy Wimpole-Smythe says...
2:33pm Wed 16 Jan 13

EMBOX2 wrote:
Why? What are they trying to hide?
Goes without saying. Why did the three councillors not vote on this issue, in fact why was it even put to a vote these are public servants representing us and so should not be allowed to hide behind closed doors.

Grunden Skip says...
4:24pm Wed 16 Jan 13

Sandy Wimpole-Smythe wrote:
EMBOX2 wrote:
Why? What are they trying to hide?
Goes without saying. Why did the three councillors not vote on this issue, in fact why was it even put to a vote these are public servants representing us and so should not be allowed to hide behind closed doors.
So is David Cameron and his cabinet, but all their meetings go on behind closed doors and nobody seems to complain.

A Scroat says...
4:26pm Wed 16 Jan 13

Well done to the cowards...Pressel, Sanders and Smith. The others - gutless. Don't vote for any of these in future. Great bit of democracy.

pcollins says...
4:38pm Wed 16 Jan 13

Well!!!! from all this claok and dagger stuff all i can assume is there is no smoke without fire.

Grunden Skip says...
4:49pm Wed 16 Jan 13

pcollins wrote:
Well!!!! from all this claok and dagger stuff all i can assume is there is no smoke without fire.
No smoke or fire I am afraid, if there was the police would be involved, especially in these times of child protection of inappropriate comments from old men.

Isawyoucoming says...
5:18pm Wed 16 Jan 13

never seen susanna pressel down our street, saw colin cook once !!!

Grunden Skip says...
5:21pm Wed 16 Jan 13

Isawyoucoming wrote:
never seen susanna pressel down our street, saw colin cook once !!!
Haven't seen Suzy in Jericho since The Raddy got rid of their Pool Table. (apart from election time)

Andrew:Oxford says...
8:00pm Wed 16 Jan 13

This is all quite bizarre. The alleged comment was directed at one person, and witnessed by 5 others - it is said to have been said whilst a school sports group were being assembled for a photo.

Yet it doesn't appear to have hit "twitter" or one of the usual "net-outraged" sites. None of the involved, including parents, have made a definitive statement to any paper concerning the content.

So what were the alleged words?

A Scroat says...
8:05pm Wed 16 Jan 13

Isawyoucoming wrote:
never seen susanna pressel down our street, saw colin cook once !!!
Probably no photographers about !

Reynaldo Throckmorton, Duke of Botley says...
4:47am Thu 17 Jan 13

Isawyoucoming wrote: "never seen susanna pressel down our street…!!"
That's because Councillor Pressel chooses to travel around Oxford via a network of secret underground tunnels.

A Scroat says...
8:41am Thu 17 Jan 13

Reynaldo Throckmorton, Duke of Botley wrote:
Isawyoucoming wrote: "never seen susanna pressel down our street…!!"
That's because Councillor Pressel chooses to travel around Oxford via a network of secret underground tunnels.
I knew it, she's a badger. Is culling an Olympic sport yet?

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