Standards Board confirms the Mayor has no case to answer

Date published: 27/05/2008

The Standards Board for England has confirmed that Rochdale’s Mayor, Councillor Robin Parker, has no case to answer, following allegations by the Liberal Democrats that the Mayor had acted improperly.

“We have decided not to refer the complaint for investigation,” a spokesperson for the Standards Board explained. “We do not consider the allegations disclose a potential breach of the code of conduct.”

Rochdale’s Labour Group leader, Councillor Colin Lambert, said he had expected this result all along and added that it was time the Liberal Democrats ditched their spiteful and petty campaign to undermine the Mayor.

“Sadly, our MP, Paul Rowen, has responded to the Standards Board’s letter by saying he will challenge the decision and carry on trying to run our Mayor down,” he said. “I have already called on the Liberal Democrats to get behind the Mayor and support his efforts to raise much-needed funds for the Springhill Hospice and the British Heart Foundation. However, it seems that they are so focused on trying to smear their political rivals and continue scoring petty political points that they are blind to the damage they are doing in our town. This is a non-political position and it is time that Paul Rowen, Councillor Alan Taylor, Dave Hennigan and the rest of the Lib Dems have the sense to realise this before it is too late.”

Ian Jenkins, fundraising manager for the Springhill Hospice has also added his support to the Mayor and called on all political parties to respect the role as a non-political one.

“We were delighted that Robin Parker had chosen us as one of his nominated charities,” he said. “Everybody in Rochdale values what we do as a hospice regardless of their politics. We have a lot of support and really want to keep politics out of this.”

Rochdale’s Labour Parliamentary Candidate, Simon Danczuk, added that Paul Rowen’s decision to get involved in this was a “very poor judgement call” and his actions had demeaned his position as our elected Member of Parliament.

“I really am saddened to see Paul Rowen supporting the disgraceful tactics employed by his agent, Dave Hennigan, on this matter,” he said. “Dave Hennigan seems to view this smear campaign as some sort of nasty bloodsport and this is dragging politics in the Borough down to a new low.”