Mayor of Desborough called opponent a "prick" and a "sad wanker"

It's all kicking off in Desborough. The excellent NN Journal reports a walk out at last night's meeting of the town council after the mayor refused to stand down:

Last month Desborough Town councillor and North Northamptonshire councillor Bill McElhinney quit the Conservative Party after sending a message to a resident calling fellow town councillor Labour’s Andy Coleman a "prick" and a "sad wanker".

Cllr Coleman has put in a standards complaint about Cllr McElhinney, which is being looked at by NNC’s legal officer, and last night he boycotted the town council meeting along with Liberal Democrat Alan Window. [Hello Alan!]

Cllr Coleman’s three Labour colleagues attended the meeting, but after Cllr Tim Healy’s request for Cllr McElhinney to stand down was refused, the trio quit the meeting.

NN Journal reports McElhinney as saying that he regrets the comments and as complaining that the Labour group "are making as much of it as they possibly can".

He says he has put in a counter complaint about Cllr Coleman. whom he accuses of double standards in the light of his own comments about public figures on social media.

Cllr Coleman's complaint is being investigated by the legal office of North Northamptonshire Council, of which Cllr McElhinney is also a member. I'm not aware that whataboutery is a defence under the act.