Rochdale Labour Party Boss Jumps Ship!

Faced with a no-confidence motion Councillor Farnell resigns
WORKERS at Rochdale MBC have been betting on when Richard Farnell would step down ever since he made a fool of himself at the Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse, last October.  With each week they have been disappointed, but next Wednesday at a full Rochdale council meeting he was facing a motion of no-confidence tabled by Councillor Andy Kelly, the leader of the Lib Dems.  The motion stated:  “This council has no confidence in the leader of the council and calls for him to step down and resign his position until such time that the findings of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) are made public.”

 
The Lib Dem motion follows the resignation of the secretary of the Rochdale Constituency Labour Party who protested at the party’s handling of the scandal.

The findings of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse are expected to be published before April.
 
Councillor Farnell e-mailed fellow councillors claiming he stepped down to prevent causing 'disunity.':

'Following the evidence to the child abuse inquiry there's been a persistent campaign from a small minority of members in the party calling for my suspension in an attempt to undermine my leadership and cause disunity in the party and group,'

In his letter to councillors, he blamed a ‘small minority’ of Labour members for ‘undermining’ his leadership ever since the Child Sex Abuse hearing.#

His resignation is immediately effective and his responsibilities will now be taken over by the council’s two deputy leaders, Allen Brett and Donna Martin, until a replacement is chosen.

 
In an agonising cross-examination at the Child Sexual Abuse Inquiry, Farnell continually denied ever having known about abuse in Knowl View boys’ school when he was last leader during the early 1990s - and placed the blame firmly on senior officers.

In the summing-up at the end of the Child Sex Abuse Inquiry it was concluded that it was ‘inconceivable’ that Coun Farnell had been unaware of the scandal.

Farnell's evidence was quickly condemned by the solicitorr acting on behalf of victims and since then four Labour branches in Rochdale have passed motions of no-confidence against him.

However, the Labour Party’s standard response has been that it must wait until the inquiry reports back next April until a decision was made on Councillor Farnell’s future in his role. Until now, the leader had appeared to be keen to hang on to power at least until next April.  The healthy stipend.he is on must have been tempting.