Labour attack forces councillor to quit

A level of politics associated more commonly with Westminster than local government has forced newly elected Boston North West County Councillor Andrea Jenkyns to quit.
She stood down after receiving legal advice that she was not qualified to act as a councillor because she worked part-time as a tutor with Lincolnshire Music Service.
Miss Jenkyns has now quit that job and intends to stand again as Tory candidate for the ward.
Ironically, she took advice from the county council before standing at the election on June 4th and was wrongly informed - something she says she hopes will lead the council to take more care when advising prospective candidates in future.
In her short time at County Halll, Miss Jenkyns proved herself to be a hard working and enthusiastic councillor, who put in more effort than many to serve the ward she was elected to represent.
And who knows, without behind the scenes dabbling, it might have been possible to have reached a compromise that would have allowed her to stay on.
Enter Paul Kenny, prospective Labour Parliamentary candidate for Boston and Skegness.
Boston Eye understands that the wannabe Labour MP launched a petition in the ward and also tried to get names to force a by-election - at which point Miss Jenkyns was advised to stand down before this could be presented. It's also alleged that Mr Kenny lodged an official complaint with Lincolnshire's Chief Executive.
And, according to another Tory County Councillor, the Labour activist has now set his sights on a new target.
Raymond Singleton-McGuire, County Councillor for Boston Fishtoft, and Borough Councillor for the Coastal ward, has accused Mr Kenny of putting two and two together and making five after a recent BBC TV programme highlighting alleged contraventions of the Race Relations Act by Boston estate agents filmed at a private residence in a development built by one of his companies.
"Subsequently, I have being informed on good authority by a number of Boston people that Paul Kenny has written to the Housing Minister at the Houses of Parliament concerning a Conservative Boston Councillor (i.e. me!), who has been caught up in the recent BBC Race Relations scandal.
"I honestly can’t believe that this many people would rush to warn me about something Mr Paul Kenny is doing if he hadn’t talked about it in such detail to them, (or others for that matter!")
So what's going on here?
Certainly Paul Kenny is playing a strange game if this is a way to seek political gain.
We've noted before that he tends to be rather shy and retiring for someone who hopes to be an MP in less than a year's time. Letters to the local press rarely mention his candidacy, and he is backward in putting himself forward in local political matters - despite formerly holding seats on both the borough and county councils and living in a borough that has no Labour representation on its council..
We fail to see what there is to gain from forcing the resignation of a popular and determined local councillor and trying to blacken the name of another by associating him with something with which he has no connection.
It will be interesting to see what happens when the by election for Boston North West takes place.
Among the candidates last time was Mr Kenny's wife Pam, who, if she stands again and repeats her previous performance has no chance of winning the seat.
The candidate who came second to Miss Jenkyns last June was Colin Westcott of the British National Party, so expect some mutterings into political beards if he decides to have another go.
Mr Kenny issued the following statement:
"Tory Councillor, Andrea Jenkyns has been forced to resign as County Councillor for Boston North West after being found to be ineligible to stand as council candidate in the June county council elections. Being an employee of a council bars membership of the same council. This was revealed by Boston District Labour Party in a letter to the County Council’s Chief Executive. "Commenting on the resignation, Councillor Rob Parker, Leader of the Labour Group on Lincolnshire County Council (editor's note - one of just four Labour councillors out of 77) said: 'I’m pleased that Ms Jenkyns has resigned rather than be formally disqualified. But it does show the level of incompetence in the Tory party in Boston and indeed in Lincolnshire that no one knew of the most basic of rules – that you can’t be a councillor on a council that you work for. I’m astounded that an officer of Lincolnshire County Council did not give the right advice because everyone involved in the running of the council knows or should know that there is a fundamental separation between the work of councillors and the work of officers. It is just not possible for someone to have a foot in both camps because that would present a huge conflict of interest. It is not a technical issue but a fundamental matter about what is right and proper. It took the Labour Party to bring this serious breach of the rules to the attention of the council. Some pretty important questions need asking all round here.
"'But it just goes to show the sort of slap dash (sic) selection process that Tory candidates go through in Lincolnshire. It would be almost humorous but incompetence is going to cost the council tax payer hundreds of pounds because of the need to have another election.'
"Commenting for Boston District Labour Party, Paul Kenny, Labour’s Prospective Parliamentary candidate for the Boston and Skegness constituency, said: “I am astounded that the Tory Party did not check out this information with their own legal team as recommended in the guidance handbook for candidates and agents. We are amazed that a main stream (sic) party like the Tory Party were not aware of the qualification and disqualification criteria and allowed this ineligible selection process to take place.
“I also want to know if the Lincolnshire Conservatives are going to apologise to the electorate of Boston North West for forcing an unexpected extra expense to the taxpayers. Just as importantly I want assurances that any allowances wrongly paid during this ineligible period will be repaid to Lincolnshire County Council.” Boston District Labour Party became aware that the County Councillor for Boston North West had made it publicly known during a radio interview on Radio Lincolnshire on 29th July 2009 that she worked for Lincolnshire Music Services.
"Paul Kenny, on behalf of the Boston District Labour Party wrote to Lincolnshire County Council asking if this was permissible. The Local Government Act 1972 clearly states that …’a person cannot be a candidate if at the time of their nomination or their election, they are employed by the local authority…’
As far as the allegations by Councillor Singleton-McGuire are concerned, Mr Kenny said: "As Labour's Parliamentary candidate for Boston & Skegness, I have sent the clip from BBC Look North to the Housing Minister, John Healey MP to alert him to concerns within the private housing sector in Boston raised by the BBC report. This is on top of the zero star rating that Boston Borough Council received from the Audit Commission. If you read the report you will see their concerns about the private sector and the Council's involvement through its role as a strategic housing authority."
Wethinks the Labour Party hath protested too much...
Rob Parker is leading Labour to extinction at County Hall, and Paul Kenny seems unworried about riding on his coat-tails.
We fail to see how complicating the political life of Boston, and enhancing its already tarnished image with Whitehall does any service for the borough and its residents.
The full list of candidates from June 4th, (with votes cast) was:-
Paul Appleby, Liberal Democrats 130
Alison Austin, Boston Bypass Independent 283
Andrew Bakewell, Independent 82
Andrea Jenkyns, Conservative 463
Pam Kenny, Labour 205
Richard Leggott, Independent 279
Colin Westcott, BNP 374

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