Saturday, June 27, 2009
Gay Tory Councillor steps down
After mounting allegations about his claiming expenses but not attending council or community meetings, the gay councillor for Goldsmid Ward, Paul Lainchbury, resigned from the council last month, citing ‘personal reasons’. The date for the by-election is Thursday July 23 and it is expected to be a tight-fought contest.
If the Tories lose the seat they could lose control of the council. Voting was close at the last elections, with Labour losing out by a handful of votes to the Tories in the ward.
After their showing in the recent European elections, the Greens are confident of taking the seat.
The Tory candidate is Andrew Wealls, the Labour candidate is Lis Telcs, the Greens candidate is Alexandra Phillips, the Lib Dem candidate is Lawrence Eke and the UKIP candidate is the former talk radio presenter Mike Mendoza, who has come under fire from the Greens for allegedly making homophobic comments.
Mr Mendoza was not available to Gscene for comment.
