1 March (Part 1) - The cat will be among the pigeons
This
report is going to be necessarily vague to protect honest councillors from those
reluctant to admit to the lies that surround councillor Cheryl Bacon. Figures will have to be in short
supply but one can safely be given. Of the 15 councillors to receive
my email
absolutely none had a single word to say in defence of Cheryl.
Maybe one should be excluded from the tally; Gareth Bacon has known all along that his wife exaggerated
and lies were attributed to her following
the illegally closed Public Realm meeting.
No one would expect him to come clean eight months later. The only person to raise his
voice at that meeting was Gareth himself.
When deciding to send the email my expectation was to get no useful replies. My
fear was that I might get only two and all the crooked Tories would sit back and
say ‘ah, that must be that Labour lot making things up’. But both thresholds were
safely crossed and exceeded.
Not everyone was able to confirm all of my seven points, but mainly they did.
All the respondents said that Danny Hackett, the prospective Labour candidate
for the Lesnes ward did nothing at that meeting. He sat silently watching events
unfold. Peter Gussman, a member of the Bexley Action Group also did absolutely
nothing. The same goes for myself, everyone confirms I just sat there dumbly.
My suggestion that Elwyn Bryant spoke only during the adjournments was accepted
100% but my recollection that Michael Barnbrook was totally silent met a more
mixed response. Some agreed and some were not so sure but suggested no specific action by Mick.
More importantly there was absolute unanimity that Nicholas Dowling did nothing
beyond seeking permission to make an audio recording and when faced with a refusal
calmly referred to the document issued by Eric Pickles. All confirm without qualification
that he was “polite throughout and did not put his recorder within six inches of Councillor
Bacon's face or anything remotely similar”. This confirms that councillor Colin Campbell
lied on BBC TV when he accused Bexley residents of
indulging in such behaviour.
Whilst
I did not seek the name of the councillor who attempted to barricade the
door to Room 105 to prevent entry by any member of the public, the name Howard Marriner (Conservative, Barnhurst) has cropped up again.
Nothing reported here about the events of that evening have been anything but
absolutely accurate; Cheryl Bacon (Conservative, Cray Meadows) looks to have
lied (I am concerned that the statement being unsigned may be significant) from the outset and at last councillors
from both parties are beginning to confirm it with clear written statements. Not
a single councillor is prepared to speak in her defence which probably explains
why Nick Hollier (Human Resources), Akin Alabi (Head of Legal Services) and
Rebecca Sandhu (the anything but Independent Person) all refused to seek out an
alternative to Cheryl Bacon’s (unsigned) account.
What cannot be done, because no independent witnesses were present, is prove that
when the police arrived they were unaccompanied, had light hearted exchanges
with the five members of the public present (Danny Hackett had already gone
home) about Bexley is Bonkers and asked what they planned to do next; not ejected
as stated by Bexley council.
Mick Barnbrook is pursuing that issue with the police who may still be under
Bexley council’s control. In the meantime I hope you will accept that Bexley
council’s story about what the police did is just as much a lie as every other
statement by Bexley council. Cheryl Bacon, Akin Alabi, Will Tuckley, Nick
Hollier, Lynn Tyler. All unwilling to speak the truth. No councillor has
been willing to back the council’s story. A satisfying number has said it is
rubbish from end to end.
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