Further to the news that Mark Chiverton has been asked to stand down as Labour Parliamentary Candidate or resign from his full time position at the Isle of Wight Council, we approached the Island MP, Andrew Turner, for his views.
Mr Turner told VB that “If Council officers are concerned about his position they should have said something long ago. Raising it a few months before a General Election is wrong, and could easily be construed as improper interference with the political process.”
In an email to Mr Turner this morning, Cllr David Pugh, Leader of the Council wrote, “officers are currently considering whether being a parliamentary candidate could in any way be in conflict with being a council employee.”
Mr Turner went on to tell VB, “Mark has been a Council employee for 37 years, Unison Branch Secretary for 12 years, stood for the Labour Party in 2005 and was selected again as their candidate in 2007. As far as I know nothing has changed recently.”
Mr Turner made it clear that he didn’t know anything about this action in advance of hearing about it.
