Spotlight

WTC: More on Bob

Nigel December 2, 2024 Whitby Town

WTC: More on Bob

– an “In My View” article by NIGEL WARD, presenting a lightly satirical spin on the unwholesome symbiotic relationship between the Chair/Mayor of Whitby Town Council, Councillor Bob ‘The Nob’ DALRYMPLE, and former Town Clerk/RFO, Mr Michael KING.

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The North Yorks Enquirer has a long history of exposing liars, fools and criminally inclined public servants.

It is coming up for a decade now since the celebrated documentary series BBC “Inside Out” dedicated a program to our work during the period before the inception of the Enquirer when we published through the auspices of the Real Whitby Magazine.

Following a nine-month fact-checking exercise by the BBC Legal Department, the Beeb showed how we had exposed, amongst others:

Peter JACONELLI – serial paedophile (or, as WTC Councillor John NOCK prefers, “hebephile”) former Scarborough Alderman, Mayor and Councillor (also a North Yorkshire County Councillor);

Councillor Carl LES – North Yorkshire Council Leader, (formerly NYCC Leader);

Mrs Lisa DIXON – former Scarborough Borough Council Monitoring Officer & Head of Legal Services.

I am now considering an approach from a major independent television production company that, having stumbled across the old “Inside Out” coverage, is looking to bring the North Yorks Enquirer story up-to-date.

Perhaps the most significant difference between now and the early days is the extent to which our research relies almost exclusively on official public record documentation, email and letter correspondence, audio and video recordings, ‘leaks’ and – arguably most convincing of all – direct testimony from those on the inside – those who are first-hand witnesses to coercion, collusion, bullying, intimidation and all manner of ‘power games’ played by unscrupulous parasites who have inveigled their way into local government to satisfy their own ends: influence, kudos, perceived power, ego-massage and money.

Even in such a tiny provincial parish as Whitby, these ‘power games’ seem to pre-occupy certain ‘players’ to the exclusion of any pretence of serving the town – and those on the inside know best what manner of chicanery passes for normal.

However, in the last twelve or fifteen months, six of the WTC Councillors have stepped away from the toxic culture of Whitby Town Council. They resigned. They have stories.

Today, I want to refer to one of the more able and respected WTC Councillors who simply could not, in good conscience, remain any longer in joint and several liability with fantasists and fiddlers.

Former WTC Councillor Hero Katherine SUMNER will already be well-known to business people – not only in Whitby, but from Staithes in the north to Spurn Point at the very southern tip of the Yorkshire Coast. Hero is the woman who voluntarily dedicated five years of her life to securing the abolition of the Yorkshire Coast Business Improvement District (YCBID), a “stealth tax” levied against tourism-oriented businesses – on top of normal business rates. Over 40 articles covering the fine detail of this Council-driven ‘scam’ have appeared on the North Yorks Enquirer: http://nyenquirer.uk/tag/ycbid/

In a very real sense, Hero really is a hero.

But when Councillor Hero SUMNER was elected to Whitby Town Council in May 2022, it did not take long for a woman of her knowledge, perspicacity and experience to discern that it was being run like a private members’ club for the personal benefit of fools with delusions of grandeur.

Background

Councillor Bob DALRYMPLE was elected to the position of Chair/Mayor at the WTC Annual Meeting held on 2nd May 2023. I say ‘elected’ in the loosest sense of the word, because his only competitor, Councillor Glenn GOODBERRY (another who has since resigned) was unable to attend the meeting and summarily ruled our of the contest by the intervention of the then Clerk/RFO, Mr Michael KING, who drew upon the terms of Standing Order 26d (which, conveniently, gives the Chair ultimate discretion over the application of Standing Orders).

In point of fact, the Mayoral election process is set out in primary legislation – the Local Government Act 1972 – which most certainly takes precedence over WTC’s ‘in-house’ Standing Orders (which readers of my most recent article “WTC: NO CONFIDENCE Time Again?” will know full well are a hotch-potch of internal inconsistency).

[Readers with a special interest in the legal technicalities surrounding this issue are directed to my article “WTC: Mayoral Mix-Up” (pub. 13/05/23)]

Councillors Chris RIDDOLLS and Alf ABBOTT (amongst others), recognising that Councillor DALRYMPLE’s election to the Chairship/Mayoralty was potentially flawed, arranged a meeting with the then Clerk/RFO, Mr Michael KING, on 9th May 2023, seeking to raise (and perhaps re-visit) the issue, and Councillor SUMNER was called in to mediate what was likely to be (given KING’s domineering character) a somewhat contentious meeting.

The meeting took place, as scheduled, in the Clerk/RFO’s office. However, the Clerk/RFO (as was apparently his wont) conducted the meeting with his office door open. Unsurprisingly, the content of the meeting was overheard and reported to me within the hour. Nothing within the content of the meeting that had regard to the potential procedural impropriety surrounding Councillor DALRYMPLE’s election to the Chairship/Mayoralty contained anything of a ‘confidential’ nature. Quite the reverse; the election of the Chair/Mayor is a public event, conducted in open Council, and of significant public interest. If the matter was ‘confidential’, why would Mr KING leave his door open?

Mr KING, however, having seen my 10th May 2023 “WTC: Mayoral Mix-Up” article in the Enquirer, spat out his dummy and tacitly accused all three Councillors (RIDDOLLS, ABBOTT and SUMNER) of having breached his(?) ‘confidentiality’ by ‘leaking’ the content of their conversation to me:

[Obtained under Subject Access Request]

Councillors RIDDOLLS and ABBOTT received Mr KING’s email and, truthfully, denied having spoken to me. Councillor SUMNER never received Mr KING’s email because he had never taken the trouble to create a WTC email account for her – as we shall presently see.

Mr KING then falsely deduced that Councillor SUMNER must be the one who had breached his (non-existent) ‘confidentiality’, and promptly lodged an entirely fatuous Councillors’ Code of Conduct Complaint against her with the NYC Monitoring Officer.

Naturally, I provided a Witness Statement [link] exonerating Councillor SUMNER. Mr KING’s fatuous Complaint was duly chucked out. Quite rightly. Equally naturally, Mr KING was furious that I had so easily and successfully chucked egg on his face.

WTC former Clerk/RFO Mr Michael KING

http://nyenquirer.uk/category/towns-parishes/potto/

One may image Councillor SUMNER’s view of ‘big wheel’ Mr KING’s hot-headedness. One may imagine mine.

It was against this background that, on 27th May 2024, Councillor SUMNER finally resigned from the Council.

The Resignation

Here follows Hero’s Letter of Resignation:

Question

Seriously, folks – could anyone of even moderate IQ (Intelligence Quotient) entertain any doubt whatsoever that the above email is a Letter of Resignation? Clearly, it is not a Wedding Invitation, a Christmas Greeting, a Begging Letter, a Serving Suggestion or a M&S Voucher. Surely not. Nor is it one of those blessings from heaven in the form of an offer of riches beyond the dreams of avarice from a kindly banker in Lagos, Nigeria.

No. To anyone possessing an IQ remotely approaching three figures, it is a Letter of Resignation. The Chair/Mayor is not a child; he is an adult, replete (as we adults are) with body hair. He must know what a Subject Line signifies – a clue as to the contents? He must be able to read and digest a phrase of eight words – especially when three of them are already well-familiar to him – ‘Whitby Town Council’? He need not be dumbfounded, nor left in paroxysms of doubt, by a word of four tiny syllables: Res•ig•na•tion:

This definition is widely known and universally understood. As well as appearing in the Subject Line of Hero’s email, its application is reiterated in the very first line of her email (underlined in red). Its purpose is compliant with s.84 Resignation of the Local Government Act 1972, Sched. 12. It is carbon-copied to the Clerk/RFO to ensure that its statutory significance is on the official record:

But did you know that in the United States, there is a prohibition against individuals with an IQ of less than 85 rendering service to the nation, on the grounds that people of such low levels of intelligence cannot be relied upon to follow simple instructions (much less run a Town Council)?

Now read the response to Hero SUMNER sent by Whitby Town Mayor, Councillor Bob ‘The Nob’ DALRYMPLE – Whitby’s pre-eminent citizen – and, below it, Hero’s response to him (in blue text):