Kensington and Chelsea Labour Councillor Ian Henderson has been given a formal warning after helping Conservatives distribute food to vulnerable residents.
The incident occurred in April when food banks in Kensington and Chelsea were running low on supplies.
Henderson managed to get £10,500 of food from Tesco, paid for first by a local charity, and then the council, and delivered to local residents in need.
Labour councillor disciplined for helping London food charity – ugly politics
But then the ugly side of political difference appeared, armed with a mobile phone.
Henderson was captured in a short video with the Conservative MP and Tory Council Leader, Elizabeth Campbell which was posted on twitter.
The tweet footage set complaints in motion that have since snowballed. Henderson since the video was made public apparently risks losing the Labour whip, unless he apologises and gets the tweet taken down.
Labour councillor disciplined for helping London food charity – Labour Party Governance would be informed
Days after the video appeared on twitter, Councillor Henderson received a ‘formal warning’ from the Group Whip Sina Lari. He was then informed that Labour Party Governance would be informed.
The letter of warning said: “It is in the Tories’ interests to appear that they are working cross-party in order for them to satisfy the standards set by the Taskforce, LGA and other bodies which have been keeping track of Council performance.
“Pandemic or no pandemic, you should seek formal advice and approval before appearing in media and publicity done by the Conservatives.”
The incident does seem to fly in the face of the country coming together. When we can’t all work together in a crisis due to political colouring, the political colouring fueling the divide should be questioned.
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