Meeting ‘regret’ and swearing denial by senior East Riding Councillor
A senior East Riding Conservative councillor has spoken of his “regret” at being filmed celebrating an opposition member’s muting but denied swearing during a recent meeting.
A senior East Riding Conservative councillor has spoken of his “regret” at being filmed celebrating an opposition member’s muting but denied swearing during a recent meeting.
East Riding Council’s Enhancing Communities portfolio holder Gary McMaster said he meant no ill will towards Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader Denis Healy while whooping and clapping after the latter’s muting.
Cllr McMaster also denied he swore during the celebration, claiming he said “block him” in the meeting on Wednesday, February 24.
Cllr Healy said he had since retracted a complaint made against the Conservative alleging he said “f*** him”, adding he was prepared to accept his version of events.
Both said they wanted councillors to put the meeting which saw several members jump into a debate on alleged rumours of a merger with Hull City Council behind them.
The meeting was briefly adjourned as a result of the exchanges and has since been viewed more than 1,500 times on YouTube.
Cllr McMaster said his celebration had been filmed after forgetting to mute himself on the council Zoom call.
He said:
“I unmuted myself earlier with the intention of passing comment but decided it would be unbecoming of me to interrupt.
“Cllr Healy was then muted and I celebrated which was heard because my microphone was still on and I regret doing it.
“I didn’t swear and I would never use that language towards anyone, I’ve explained myself to council officers and to Cllr Healy and they are both satisfied with it.
“I had no intention of harming or hurting Cllr Healy in any way, it was an error on my part, I was expressing my enthusiasm.
“It’s very regrettable that the meeting got out of hand, the passion from councillors reflects all the concerns they had about the motion claiming there was going to be a merger with Hull which isn’t going to happen.
“That was the reason why everyone wanted to be clear and wanted the truth to come out in the debate.
“Historically all councillors have acted in a very professional manner and we work well across parties.
“I hate the fact that politics makes people who could otherwise be friends be nasty towards each other.
“And any ruling group is only as good as its opposition, so it’s important that the Liberal Democrats keep an eye on us.
“I’m very proud to be a member of this council, our group and the opposition have always worked well together.
“It’s the first time something like this has happened and I hope it never happens again.
“I’d suggest that we try to get back to that and try to be more respectful towards each other in future.”
Cllr Healy said he also wanted to see more respect between members in future meetings.
The opposition deputy leader said:
“It doesn’t do any of us any good to see councillors at odds with each other like that, it got too personal.
“I’m happy to take Cllr McMaster at his word, he seems like a man of honour.
“We will always have disagreements, but I still respect a lot of the Conservative members and we do work well together.
“I also don’t think holding the meeting on Zoom helped, that wouldn’t have happened if we were in the council chamber.
“I want us to move forward in a positive way now, treating each other in a respectful way is important.”