Former leader of Harborough District Council suspended from ruling Conservative group

Councillor Mike Rook, the former leader of Harborough District Council, has been suspended from its ruling Conservative group, reports the Harborough Mail website:

It comes after Cllr Mike Rook, who stepped down as leader last month, sent a letter to the Mail criticising his successor Blake Pain for his conduct during a row last year over the development of a masterplan planning document which could see up to 1,800 homes built on land north west of Harborough. 

The issue led Cllr Rook to sack Cllr Pain as his deputy leader back in November. 

In a letter to the Mail this week, Cllr Rook said he sacked Cllr Pain not over his opposition to the homes, but because Cllr Pain’s actions were ‘undermining the administration from the inside’.

The report goes on to say that the letter will be published in full in tomorrow's paper.

It has been clear for a while that there are factions developing in the Harborough Tory group. I am told that two Conservative councillors were nominated as vice-chair of the planning committee last month. The Liberal Democrat members naturally abstained - indeed, they had probably brought popcorn.

The vote ended in a tie and the committee chair was forced to choose between his two Tory colleagues. Such fun!