‘Effing and blinding’ councillors should be ‘thrown out’
Cllr Phil Pritchard was chairing a meeting of the Strategy, Policy and Development meeting last night, and said that in all his years of service and despite his often-heated exchanges, “nobody has ever heard me swear once in this chamber”.
And in a bid to highlight the “manners that my mother taught me”, Cllr Pritchard said that councillors should also “remove their hats in the chamber”.
His rant came during a debate covering council policies, when Cllr Estelle Bleivas pleaded: “No more swearing in the council chamber, please. We’ve had two different councillors (at recent meetings) who have actually sworn, and I mean sworn, not just said ‘bloody’ but proper swearing and it’s stupid.”
The comment was jumped on by Cllr Pritchard who said: “That’s not a matter for us as individuals, it is a matter for the chair at the time. They should throw them out. As simple as that.”
Then Cllr Bleivas pointed out: “That’s easier said than done, when you’ve got two different councillors who were actually chairing the meeting. (They) can’t throw themselves out.”
Cllr Morag Bailey added that the use of offensive language is not permitted through the councillors’ Code of Conduct, which led to Cllr Pritchard’s adding.
“Respect is the word. Everybody should respect everybody,” he said. “One thing I am very pleased with myself, because I get very into debates, nobody has ever heard me swear once in this chamber. To me, I am very proud of myself.
“It’s a different thing, but if it is all men around here, and I know I shouldn’t talk this way, and one is having a go at the other then so be it. If it’s all women, then so be it. But when it’s a mixture and there are ladies in the room, and my mother always taught me, manners, and manners meant that when I am in a room, and when I have a hat on, I should take it off because there are ladies present. That’s manners.”
He continued: “That sort of conduct is not acceptable and it is the same people all the time I am afraid. I do get a little bit angry about it. We shouldn’t have councillors losing their rag, and effing and blinding in this chamber, particularly when there’s ladies here but it shouldn’t happen at any time even if it was all men (present). Simple as that, and that’s what our code of conduct says.”
The two policies up for debate – Dignity at Work and Staff Attendance – were passed unanimously with officer, Kimberly Wright, praised for her work in pulling them together.
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