The Leader of the Isle of Wight Council, Cllr Jonathan Bacon, must suspend one of his Cabinet Members, Cllr Phil Jordan, until the latter apologises for his ‘outrageous behavior’ at last night’s meeting of the Full Council, an opposition councillor has demanded.
Cllr Phil Jordan (pictured above), a serving member of the Independent Administration of the Isle of Wight Council, was instructed by the Chairman of the Council to leave the Council Chamber yesterday evening after an’ extraordinary outburst’ in which Cllr Jordan repeatedly interrupted proceedings.
Speaking after the Council meeting, Cllr Chris Whitehouse (Conservative, Newport West Ward) said:
“Cllr Jordan was completely out of order. His outburst was perceived by many observers as bordering on the hysterical. He may have opposed the Motion being debate, which challenged Independent Group Councillors to stand by their election promises to have Cabinet positions chosen by Full Council, but he had no right to disrupt proceedings and continually to undermine the authority of the Chairman who was simply seeking to maintain order and dignified debate.”
The apparent outburst from Cllr Jordan came as a fully independent councillor, Bob Blezzard, moved a proposal that would require Cabinet Members to be appointed by Full Council, not by the Leader of the Council alone. Cllr Blezzard quoted from one of Cllr Jordan’s election leaflets in which Cllr Jordan had given an election pledge to support such a change of system. This saw Cllr Jordan lose his temper and repeatedly harangue both Cllr Blezzard and the Chairman of the Council when the latter sought to restore order, according to Cllr Whitehouse.
Cllr Whitehouse continued by saying:
“This was a shameful display of petulance.
“Cllr Jordan was clearly not acting in a responsible manner and he should be dismissed immediately by the Leader of the Council Cllr Jonathan Bacon, until he apologises to the Full Council for his behavior and to the Council Chairman for his discourtesy.
Article continues below this advertisement “It’s simply unacceptable for Cllr Jordan to accept a massive Special Responsibility Allowance payment for being in the Cabinet whilst behaving so irresponsibly and demonstrably bringing the Council into disrepute. His antics were disgraceful and were a complete betrayal of the pledges he gave when he stood for election.”
The Motion proposed by Cllr Blezzard was last night passed, setting out a clear aspiration of the Council to move away from the current arrangements for appointing the Cabinet.
