Labour councillor hits out at former colleagues for joining Conservatives

A Labour councillor has launched a scathing attack on two former colleagues for joining the Conservatives.

West Heywood councillors Jacqui Beswick and Alan McCarthy were last week confirmed as members of Rochdale council’s Conservative group.

The long-serving pair originally left Labour in 2019 to sit as independent and Brexit Party councillors respectively.

Councillor Beswick had previously been deputy council leader before falling out with the party over its handling of ‘false allegations’ against her, while Councillor McCarthy became disillusioned with Labour’s Brexit stance.
 

Read more: Heywood councillors leave Labour Party for independence and Brexit PartyPublished: 04 July 2019

Then-Labour leader Councillor Allen Brett said the duo ‘wouldn’t be missed’ after the pair defected.

Now Councillors Beswick and McCarthy have come under renewed attack from Labour’s Councillor John Blundell following their recent decision to join the Conservative group.

The cabinet member for economy and communications said the pair ‘owed their council seats to the Labour party’ and called on them to trigger a by-election by standing down.

 

 

He said: “It’s sad that Alan McCarthy and Jacqui Beswick have used the Labour brand to get themselves elected a few times – and their commitment to the public to have Labour party values.

“Surely instead of keeping switching parties they should – now finally settled – give the public the chance to vote if they want two Conservative party councillors.”

He also took a swipe at the wider Conservative group, adding: “In addition it’s a sad state of affairs that the Conservative Party in the borough of Rochdale for the past 10 years has only been able to expand by taking our rejects and people who, for whatever reason, have left the Labour party because they feel politically lost.”

However Ashley Dearnley, leader of Rochdale council’s Conservative group, has hit back, and defended his new members.

“If they were to hold by-elections, it would be the first time in recent history,” he said.

“People have always changed parties and not held by-elections; there’s nothing new there, that’s general practice.”

Councillors Beswick and McCarthy are far from the only councillors to defect from one party to another: in 2005, Councillors Wera and William Hobhouse defected from the Conservatives to the Liberal Democrats, whilst nine Liberal Democrats quit the party in 2011, with many becoming Independent Alliance members.
 

Read more: Councillors switch partiesPublished: 09 March 2005

 

Read more: Lib Dem quitters - the real reason?Published: 18 April 2011

 

Sitting Labour councillor Peter Rush defected to Labour from the Lib Dems in 2015. Councillor Shah Wazir, now a Labour member, defected to the Conservatives from the Liberal Democrats in 2013.

More recently, Councillor Kathleen Nickson joined the Conservative party from Labour, albeit via the Lib Dems, Brexit Party and a stint as an independent.

 

Read more: Former Labour councillor who joined Lib Dems before announcing she was defecting to The Brexit Party has now become a ConservativePublished: 19 May 2020

 

Councillor Dearnley told Councillor Blundell to take a look closer to home before lashing out at the local Labour group.

“My view would be that he probably needs to look at the problems within the Labour party as to why people are leaving Labour and joining the Conservatives.

“It’s certainly not a problem with the Conservatives. The problem is within Labour both nationally and locally.”

Councillor Beswick ran for party leader after Richard Farnell stood down as group leader in 2017, but lost out to Councillor Brett.
 

Read more: Jacqui Beswick to challenge Allen Brett for Labour leadershipPublished: 04 May 2018

Relations between Councillor Beswick and Rochdale’s Labour group were further soured last year when she was called ‘a bitch’ during a virtual full council meeting.

Mics picked up the comment during a You Tube broadcast.

Labour councillor Sue Emmott apologised for the ‘derogatory’ comment at a full council meeting in December. Councillor Beswick has accepted the apology.
 

Read more: Fury as councillor called ‘bitch’ during vote at virtual council meetingPublished: 17 July 2020

Both councillors declined to comment on Councillor Blundell's remarks.

Nick Statham, Local Democracy Reporting Service

Additional reporting: Rochdale Online