A political row has broke out in which Bury North MP James Daly has been accused of having a "bullying style" by his predecessor, a claim he dismissed as an "outright blatant lie".
The argument began on social media on Tuesday and centred around claims Tottington independent Cllr Yvonne Wright was being subjected to bullying from the Bury Conservative Party over her missing council meetings and accusations of malpractice at the local elections in May.
She has not attended a council meeting since May 27 this year after being on holiday on each occasion she was due to be present.
Section 85 of the Local Government Act 1972 states that if a member of a local authority fails throughout a period of six consecutive months from the date of their last attendance to attend any meeting of the authority, they shall cease to a member of the authority.
But Cllr Wright is set for a reprieve after council leader, Cllr Eamonn O’Brien, said the "fair-minded" thing would be to appoint her to a vacant position on a committee so she can attend a meeting before she is disbarred.
That decision was attacked by Bury's Conservative leader, Cllr Russell Bernstein, who said he would "robustly challenge any attempt by the Labour administration to put Cllr Wright on any committees" and accused her of having "no regard for rules".
Cllr Wright, a long standing member of the Tory party, left the group in February, saying her "values are no longer aligned to those of Bury Conservatives".
Cllr Wright, Bury's longest-serving councillor after serving on the council for 23 years, has described the way she has been treated as a “witch hunt”.
She claimed “the objective of the 12 Conservative councillors is to force me out of office and replace me with a Conservative candidate”.
Cllr Wright said: “It doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to know which group is behind the attempt to smear my good name.
“A sinister pattern of behaviour has clearly emerged since my electoral success in May.
“Valuable police time was wasted in September when I was interviewed at Bury Police Station following an insistence my electoral accounts be investigated for malpractice.
“Of course, no such issue was established beyond an accountancy error of 7p and an admin oversight that led to a signature omission.”
Councillor 'shocked' after being quizzed over alleged election malpractice
She added: “As a consequence of the vindictive behaviour aimed at me, there has been a huge outpouring of personal kindness and public support from my wonderful ward residents.
“I have this message for them, be assured I will never be bullied into leaving my position as a Tottington councillor by these 12 Bury Conservative councillors.
“My message to the Tory bullyboys, focus your time and efforts on better representing your constituents, as voters expect and deserve it.
“Nobody likes a bully, or votes for one.”
But in response, Cllr Bernstein, said: "I understand Cllr Yvonne Wright has made a claim that she is subject to a witch hunt.
"I’m not surprised by this feeble attempt to create a diversion from the fundamental fact that Cllr Yvonne Wright is two weeks away from triggering the six months rule due to her deciding to go on holidays instead of attending meetings.
"Can I point out I didn't make the six months rule but as leader of the Conservative Group one of my roles is to ensure that any decisions that are taken by Bury Council are taken within the agreed constitution and are done in open and transparent manner.
"I will continue to pursue all such matters robustly and in accordance with the council constitution."
Former Bury North Labour MP James Frith, who served the area from 2017 to 2019 and is campaigning to win his seat back at the next general election, took to social media this week to criticise Mr Daly, who represents the Conservatives.
It followed the announcement that Mr Daly had taken up the position of parliamentary private secretary in the cabinet office, a department that MP Sir Gavin Williamson was in charge of until he quit the role this week.
Sir Gavin allegedly made abusive comments, including being accused of telling a senior civil servant to “slit your throat” when he was defence secretary.
He also allegedly sent abusive text messages to former chief whip Wendy Morton too.
On Tuesday night, Sir Gavin, who had been appointed cabinet minister by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, resigned following the bullying claims.
In a Facebook post made before Sir Gavin stepped down, Mr Frith said: “On the same day we welcome proposals for Radcliffe North to join Bury North, James Daly takes yet another new job, working for bully in chief Gavin Williamson, the man who threatened to scrap Radcliffe’s new school if Bury Tories supported free school meals in the holidays for our poorest families.
“Perhaps Daly learned his own bullying style from Sir Gav?
“His alleged treatment of much admired, former Tory, and now Independent Tottington councillor, Yvonne Wright certainly suggests so.
“Bury’s last remaining Tory MP putting party before country. Again.”
The areas of Bury that could have their political boundaries moved
In response to Mr Frith's post, Mr Daly replied in a video on Facebook denying the accusations and calling them "pathetic".
He said: “I’m here in the House of Commons and I’m really sad that I’m having to make this video, but something has happened today which is just not acceptable and it’s a repeat of behaviour that’s happened before.
“James Frith who is the Labour party’s parliamentary candidate for Bury North at the next election has put a Facebook post out about me which contains an outright blatant lie, which is that I’m involved in the bullying behaviour against someone else, a complete lie, and he is repeating that on a public platform.
"For those interested, I have been appointed the parliamentary private secretary in the cabinet office, I do that with two other colleagues, make of that what you will, I’m carrying out a job that I have been asked to do by the government.
“The fact the I need to be making a video about this and commenting on this is frankly pathetic.
“In the past with Mr Frith, I’ve had to instruct solicitors to write a letter to him regarding things he has said about me, and I’ve actually had to get the police involved to warn him not to continue with certain things he was saying about me.
“It is truly pathetic that he is doing this."
He added: “So, judge me in anyway what you will, hopefully you will judge me on the things I do or don’t do as your MP, and the policy stands, I take and what I vote on.
"All of that, I expect to get criticism or praise on the very odd occasion but certainly criticism in respect of what I do.
“But outright lies that he has told regarding the bullying today, is just out of order, it’s pathetic.
"And I hope going forward we can discuss policy, we can discuss the Labour policies on this, the Conservatives' policies on this, what I’m doing in a way that doesn’t involve just blatant dishonesty.
“So please Mr Frith stop doing it and let’s get back to debating the issues and making sure we can all work together in Bury for the good of every single person in the Bury North constituency.”
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel