Ex-St Helens Council leader guilty of election night assault (From St Helens Star)
Send us news by text, start your message Star News and your send photos and videos to 80360
Ex-St Helens Council leader guilty of election night assault
1:05pm Monday 29th October 2012 in News
Brian Spencer pictured at the election count moment's before he assaulted Labour's Mark Johnson.
A FORMER leader of St Helens Council has escaped with a fine after admitting assaulting a rival politician during an election night bust up.
Liberal Democrat Brian Spencer pleaded guilty to shoving over Labour candidate Mark Johnson during May’s local election count in St Helens Town Hall’s assembly room.
Spencer, 65, had been due to stand trial today at Bootle Magistrates' Court today – but he changed his plea to guilty.
Spencer - who was accompanied by ex-Lib Dem deputy leader for St Helens, Suzanne Knight and relatives - walked free from court but was fined £395.
On the night in question he was led away from the counting room by police after shoving Mr Johnson a candidate for the Eccleston ward, with both hands.
The assault caused Mr Johnson to stumble over on to his mother Janet, a serving Labour councillor.
Spencer, who led St Helens Council under a power sharing agreement with the Tories until Labour wrestled back control two years ago, was not present later on when results showed he had been defeated in Sutton ward and consequently lost the Lib Dem leadership.
In the days after the incident Spencer told the Star he denied being involved in any form of assault.
At an earlier hearing he had pleaded not guilty to the assault, however, today he finally admitted the offence.
Speaking outside court, Spencer said: "It is a relief to get it over with. I want to get back to working in the community, which is all I have ever wanted to do."
<b>Full report to follow</b>
Comments(31)
anthonywilson
says...
7:11pm Mon 29 Oct 12
We need a fundamental change in how local government is run and conducted instead of what we have at present. The whole incident has brought shame through the national media.
Isn't it about time we had a system were Councillors only were able to hold office for eight years maximum (elected to serve one term of four years and have a chance of being re-elected for a further four and that's it.) and in perhaps so doing we would have a system were stagnation didn't take place and elected representatives putting the interests of constutuents first and not the petty party politics.
Is it any wonder why so many people couldn't care less and don't vote.
Sankey
says...
7:23pm Mon 29 Oct 12
keepitreel
says...
11:41am Tue 30 Oct 12
smith&weston
says...
12:05pm Tue 30 Oct 12
anthonywilson
says...
3:05pm Tue 30 Oct 12
keepitreel wrote:Didn't you know Politics in St Helens is a family business? Not just in one party either too.
this sounds like a family business how many of MARK JOHNSONS family are coucillors,his mum, his dad, he himself sounds more like jobs for the boys,and what about him calling MR SPENCER names like a spoilt school kid,no wonder this town is a dump when we have people like this running things.
PM
says...
4:43pm Tue 30 Oct 12
Councillors should serve one term only , and so should MPs. It's not a job its a public service.
PM
says...
4:43pm Tue 30 Oct 12
Councillors should serve one term only , and so should MPs. It's not a job its a public service.
Sankey
says...
9:11pm Tue 30 Oct 12
pitbullboxing
says...
11:02pm Tue 30 Oct 12
chasmcn
says...
11:39pm Tue 30 Oct 12
PM
says...
8:50am Wed 31 Oct 12
chasmcn wrote:And why are so many councillors magistrates anyway? Another trough to stick their noses in.
Oh Deary me he will have to stand down as a magistrate now :-)
Davos99
says...
9:18am Wed 31 Oct 12
frankly
says...
11:16am Wed 31 Oct 12
Sankey
says...
11:52am Wed 31 Oct 12
mikeperry109
says...
12:38pm Wed 31 Oct 12
mikeperry109
says...
12:39pm Wed 31 Oct 12
anthonywilson wrote:Spot on again Anthony.
keepitreel wrote:Didn't you know Politics in St Helens is a family business? Not just in one party either too.
this sounds like a family business how many of MARK JOHNSONS family are coucillors,his mum, his dad, he himself sounds more like jobs for the boys,and what about him calling MR SPENCER names like a spoilt school kid,no wonder this town is a dump when we have people like this running things.
mikeperry109
says...
12:43pm Wed 31 Oct 12
PM wrote:And the trough just gets deeper and deeper, PM. Now we are getting failed politicians as Police Commissioners on over £80000 a year - no doubt plus generous expenses - at a time when police budgets are being slashed. It is a tragedy for this country that we still have "lions led by donkeys"!
chasmcn wrote:And why are so many councillors magistrates anyway? Another trough to stick their noses in.
Oh Deary me he will have to stand down as a magistrate now :-)
anthonywilson
says...
1:01pm Wed 31 Oct 12
Davos99 wrote:Excellent Post. Being a councillor is or should be seen as public service and at one time before the local government cabinet sytem was introduced they didn't get paid in the same manner either.
Public service with a paypacket isn't public service, it's self interest. There are many people who give up their time to work in the community for free because they believe in their communities .Politicians do not fall into this catergory. The same names have been knocking around the St Helens political scene for ages , have they done a good job? The majority of people in St Heens would say not .They treat local politics as if its some sort of game , a costly one for local council tax payers, but a game all the same. I think we have a shockingly poor calibre of politician in St Helens and they populate all parties. This is the fault of the population of the town , not the non entities in the town hall.
The calibre of many councillors in St Helens is indeed no where near where it should be. (Some can't even chair a meeting properly.) To be fair some of the councillors do work hard for their communities and there are a small handful of really good ones but the majority are party fodder and haven't got the political acumen or skills and calibre to do the role and as you have said Davos, the electorate are responsible for this.
Sankey
says...
1:31pm Wed 31 Oct 12
frankly
says...
3:29pm Wed 31 Oct 12
Sankey
says...
4:32pm Wed 31 Oct 12
chasmcn
says...
7:31pm Wed 31 Oct 12
Two terms in office then you stand down i think that's about right
anthonywilson
says...
9:48pm Wed 31 Oct 12
chasmcn wrote:The trouble is chasmcn its not just a case of changing the personnel or simply encouraging more newer people to stand as much as I agree with this, its a complete change of the system that's needed. We have a 19th century political system in this country not fit for purpose in the 21st century. There is also the wider issue that the significance and importance of local government is rapidly diminishing in the current economic climate. As a result of the cuts, some Councils in England have made redundant nearly all their staff and have commissioned and contracted out ALL of their services to save money. Councillors for these authorities have very little influence or power at all to do anything or change anything as services are locked into time fixed contracts until the service contracts come up for renewal. Whether it will happen full scale or not in St Helens is another matter, but certainly the general direction is that local government will have far less power and money in the future and they are under increasing pressure to tender out Council services. For example the new Heseltine report published today wants to give money to Local Enterprise Partnerships for economic growth rather than local authorities. Again this means that money for projects and business growth and infrastructure is not in the hands of elected people so there would be very little accountabliity to the public. Some might say this is a good thing that the local councillors aren't involved in this but it illustrates how insignificant local government has and is more likely to become.
After reading this i am looking forward to seeing a few new names on the ballot sheet , or is it that most people are not interested in politics you just have to read the comments pages here same 6/7 people posting comments week in week out.
Two terms in office then you stand down i think that's about right
If people want to serve their community there are also many other ways in which local people can do so instead of seeking public office and in some ways its becoming easier to influence the system from outside rather than be a part of it.
keepitreel
says...
4:48pm Thu 1 Nov 12
mikeperry109
says...
6:51pm Thu 1 Nov 12
keepitreel wrote:Power corrupts - absolute power corrupts absolutely! Twenty years ago councillors got a small allowance and loss of earnings made up. Now those in cabinet are highly paid, none more so than the leader, who has been in power on and off for more than 20 years. The Chief Executive is earning over £150,000 per year, and there are several senior officers on over £100,000. They are laughing at the mugs in St. Helens who fork out their council tax to keep them in their overpaid positions.
has everyone noticed the big plans for LIVERPOOL on the natinal media to-day,a long term plan and this on top of the money given to the major for his plans,pity we in this town will not benifit from this but our glourious leader thought more of her job than that of the future of this town and we never got a chance to use our only weapon against her in voting for a regional major,seems the look after yourself ethos has reached the bottom feaders in the paerty now.
Sankey
says...
10:22am Fri 2 Nov 12
anthonywilson
says...
7:59pm Fri 2 Nov 12
Sankey wrote:I missed the programme Sankey but watched in on iPlayer.
Did anyone watch the documentary last night on BBC4 about stoke council and setting their budget with the cutbacks? It shows the pain and emotion of cutting front line care. I could not help thinking if this was St Helens labour they would simply put up the council tax and cut the front line leaving the crony’s intact. How can these long standing fat cats in St Helens along with the councillor leaders sleep in their beds at night? Drawing salaries either in excess of or near to the prime minister for running a small council and running it very badly at that? And who suffers the public and the vulnerable the previous poster is correct, absolute power corrupts and these people have been around far too long. And as for the yob’s name calling on the election night that is truly pathetic and shows this mob up for what they are.
It certainly brings home the scale of the problems and the task at hand. It was exactly in line with the comments I made in my earlier post about the reduced influence and declining power within Councils.
chasmcn
says...
9:49pm Fri 2 Nov 12
Sankey wrote:Its not the council cutting the front line care its the govt you support a govt that gives tax cuts to millionaires attacks the disabled ,blames the unemployed for the economic mess we are in.
Did anyone watch the documentary last night on BBC4 about stoke council and setting their budget with the cutbacks? It shows the pain and emotion of cutting front line care. I could not help thinking if this was St Helens labour they would simply put up the council tax and cut the front line leaving the crony’s intact. How can these long standing fat cats in St Helens along with the councillor leaders sleep in their beds at night? Drawing salaries either in excess of or near to the prime minister for running a small council and running it very badly at that? And who suffers the public and the vulnerable the previous poster is correct, absolute power corrupts and these people have been around far too long. And as for the yob’s name calling on the election night that is truly pathetic and shows this mob up for what they are.
a govt that came out with the biggest lie ever told that the debt we have is biggest historically and dangerous to the nation thou the bond markets .
As a proportion of GDP our debt as been higher for 200 of the last 250 years ,in that period of time there have been 2 brief periods of 30yrs when the debt as been lower ,the cuts are nothing but tory ideology ,
Osborn had to admit to treasury select committee that he did not know that the UK had the lowest debt of any G7 nation
http://www.youtube.c
om/watch?feature=pla
yer_embedded&v=AQYfP
htWpy8
When labour came to power in 97 the deficit was 3.9% by 2008 they had reduce it by 50% to 2.1% so where is the big spending labour where doing it was that big Osborne and Cameron were going to spend at the same level ,when they left office the deficit was 11% according to the tories which in the nineties the tories had deficits as high as we have today in 94 it was higher and did not have a banking crisis look the figures up dont believe the right wing press .The OBR has since revised the figure for labours final year in office the deficit was 7.1% and not 11 as the tories said .In 1997 the national debt was 42% of GDP when labour left office it was 35% of GDP and the tories said we were ruined look the figures up and see for yourself.
Its all tory propaganda so those who are rich pay less tax that the poorer people of society have to suffer to pay for the rich creating the mess we are in
Sankey
says...
10:31am Sat 3 Nov 12
And they have admitted so both in the Labour conference and in the union conference. Anyone who thinks we can turn on the borrowing taps now is a sandwich short of a picnic.
Sankey
says...
12:46pm Sat 3 Nov 12
smith&weston says...
6:29pm Mon 29 Oct 12