1:00pm Thursday 4th March 2010
By Patrick Knox
DEFIANT maverick councillor Phil Heath has vowed to “fight to the end” after the latest setback in his bid to be the next mayor of Basingstoke and Deane.
All but four of the ruling Conservative councillors who were present at an extraordinary borough council meeting on Monday voted against the Basingstoke First Community Party member becoming the next mayor.
But Cllr Heath – a former Conservative group leader – told The Gazette he has every intention of taking his battle to be the 369th mayor of Basingstoke and Deane right to the annual mayor-making meeting in May.
He said: “I am going to carry on and fight to the end.”
Following a heated debate and a vote – which is not binding and is only an indication of who is likely to be the next mayor – Conservative councillor Keith Chapman, as the second most senior councillor and favoured candidate of most of the majority Conservative administration, is now in pole position to take up the mayoral chains.
However, Cllr Heath insists it is still his constitutional right to become mayor, and he said he would be coming along to the May mayor-making ceremony with members of his family and representatives from the charities that are set to benefit from his charity appeal should he become first citizen.
Cllr Heath said: “The Conservatives want, at any cost, to stop me being mayor – somebody has to stand up to them.
“This is so important for the borough because the mayoralty is sacrosanct – it is about nearly 350 years of history.
“The Conservatives say I am a risk. They are making out that I am going to go round attacking people.
“But it is quite clear that if they don’t like you, they will not allow you to become mayor.
“I am prepared to stand in Market Place and answer any questions from the public.”
The latest vote follows claims from Conservative group leader Cllr Mark Ruffell that Cllr Heath, who was expelled from the Con-servatives in 2008 following a row with a party member, is not fit to be mayor.
The standards committee, which has previously sent Cllr Heath on a training course after finding he failed to treat others with respect, is now probing four fresh complaints against Cllr Heath for allegedly breaching the councillor’s code of conduct.
Two complaints have been made by Conservative councillors and two by council officers, including one from borough chief executive Tony Curtis who was unhappy with the deputy mayor for levelling criticism at the borough council over its response to the recent snow chaos.
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