As some of you may well know Linda Hobson made what you would call an inappropriate tweet for an elected representative regarding Baroness Thatcher.  This obviously stirred up some feeling on the Conservative side and upset a fair few people.

This lead to a whole scurry of twitter activity regarding this, lots of people demanding that Linda Hobson resign immediately or that her council leaders actually sack her from the Labour party.  But before I joined in in this twitter rage, I looked in to the Local Government Association Code of Conduct; and I found that what she said was actually a breach of them. 

Under paragraph 3(1) - Treating others with respect.  As through her use of inappropriate words and abusive language, either in writing or verbally she had breached this code. 

So I sent a nice email to the relevant people at Newcastle City Council who told me they would look in to the actions themselves and would also pass on my complaint to the Labour Group on the Council for them to look in to. This response was on Monday afternoon, so I braced myself for what was probably going to be a long wait while they investigate.

Then yesterday evening I got a reply from Linda Hobson personally who said the following;


Dear Miss J. McQueen LLB (hons),

Could I firstly and most importantly apologise for the upset I have caused you.

As you quite rightly point out it was a totally inappropriate thing for some one in my position to have done. I have issued a formal apology, however, I wanted to apologise directly to you.

I did not intend to cause such distress and I sincerely regret my actions. I hope you will be able to accept my apology.

 
Yours Sincerely,
Linda Hobson

 

So we now have an apology, and she says that she has issued a formal apology, we know the tweet has been deleted, so we just have to wait for the formal council investigation to find out what they say and this matter can then be put to bed.

Though I do hope the Labour party are consistent in their actions, as after the last one who made such comments was suspended, I think it only fit Linda Hobson although apologetic is suspended for a period of time too. 



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