The Rumour Mill

I recently heard a rumour that Cllr Mick Newton was no longer a Labour councillor and was sitting as an independent. I wasn't going to write about it as I couldn't reasonably verify it but, after a look at the 'Nottingham Labour' website I feel confident enough to do so.

Have a look at the 'Labour Team' page. Third row down, the Basford councillors Cat Arnold and Rob Lee are there but where you'd expect to find Cllr Newton is someone called Bill Ottewell, who has cropped up elsewhere as a 'campaign team member' amongst other things. Whether he'll be running for the seat at the upcoming election I've no idea, nor do I know whether Newton jumped or was pushed. Either way I can't think of any other reason why he wouldn't be up there but if anyone knows different please let me know and I will correct forthwith.

However, I DO know that the Standards Committee was meeting to consider a case a couple of weeks ago and I do know that Cllr Newton was one of the councillors who was being investigated for something. However it's a bit of a jump to automatically connect the two for now.

Other rumours that I've heard are that an Executive Board member is not planning on standing again and that another Labour councillor had been effectively deselected. No names on these as I can't cross reference with anything but the next full council meeting is the last before the election and it's apparently tradition for there to be official tearful farewells. We'll see.