Councillors resign en masse after criticism by blogger

Eleven out of 15 councillors in a Somerset local authority have resigned "en masse" in protest against a barrage of criticism from a blogger, it emerged today.

Some 11 members of Somerton council's complement of 15 stepped down on Tuesday.

The walkout came after blogger Niall Connolly branded some members "jackasses" and referred to one leaflet as being "like a Nazi call to arms".

A motion was then proposed that members step down, citing "impossible working conditions".

There were a 11 resignations, with one "sympathy" walkout and another member going on holiday.

Councillor Ian Neale walked out but did not resign, fearing that funding for four projects he was working on might be lost.

Neale said the comments on the Muck & Brass blog were "probably the catalyst" for the walkout, although he had only heard of Connolly's outspoken words from others.

He said today: "My fellow councillors took great exception to it. The undermining was precipitated by the fact that Mr Connolly wanted information from the council that he felt was being kept covert.

"He comes to meetings, takes copious notes then goes back to his computer and makes criticisms."

A legal team has been looking at the blog to see if it constitutes defamation, he added.

Ex-vice chairman Anthony Canvin, a 61-year-old businessman, told the BBC: "I'm not going to tolerate it when I'm working for the town."

Fresh elections will be held as there are now not enough councillors to carry through decisions.

But Connolly, believed to be a former regeneration officer with a different council, said blaming his website was merely convenient for the councillors.

He told the BBC website: "If blaming Muck & Brass helps these ex-councillors to sleep at night then that's fine, but it ignores the truth. These councillors had, for too long, ignored the community which they were meant to serve."

Writing on the blog today, Connolly said: "It would be unrealistic to let last Tuesday evening's Somerton town council meeting go unnoticed, and it certainly didn't go unnoticed by those who were there.

"A rough head count suggested that 160 people had turned up for the meeting and they included a pretty broad spectrum of the community. And then, about 33 minutes into the meeting, it all started to go Pete Tong.

"The vice chair stood up, put on his jacket and started a brief speech about how he was sick and tired of something or other and how he was going to leave it all up to the town. At that point it seemed like he was presenting his resignation and this stunning news was greeted by the audience with rapturous applause. This seemed to trigger of a convulsion of action on the part of most of the rest of the council.

"As one they rose up and the Chair was subject to a proverbial avalanche of resignation letters before he himself resigned."

He added that as the "sheep" filed out, "euphoria" filled the room, as those present shared a "Berlin Wall moment". "Freedom. Heady days indeed."

In an earlier entry, he claimed a council pamphlet entitled Good Citizens, which covers voting rights, "reads more like a Nazi call to arms or an invitation to ethnic cleansing".

In another, he complains about "clown" councillors ignoring democracy.