‘I would never intentionally upset Shirley Smart, her and Harry Rees were my friends and they came to dinner’.
That was the message from Cllr Geoff Brodie after Isle of Wight Council leader Cllr Dave Stewart said he should be ashamed of his behaviour during Wednesday’s IW Council budget meeting.
In a tweet today, Cllr Stewart wrote:
"I hope the councillor who chose to interrupt [and] upset a colleague at [full council] on Wednesday is ashamed".
The incident occurred during an emotional moment when Cllr Shirley Smart was attempting to point out the amount of work her late husband and fellow IW Councillor Harry Rees to get support for the Isle of Wight from government and the EU.
Cllr Brodie interrupted her to try to make a point of order about an amendment he wished to make to a motion being debated.
Cllr Smart was at that point becoming upset and emotional while speaking about her husband.
Cllr Brodie repeatedly called for a point of order and said his amendment had not been brought forward, he was 'once again being treated appallingly by the council' and it was a 'disgrace'.
Cllr Smart apologised to Cllr Brodie for speaking as she said she was unaware the motion was coming up and stopped talking.
Due to the meeting happening online, during pauses for councillors to read Cllr Brodie's amendment, an upset Cllr Smart could still be heard.
At the time, Cllr Brodie said he was sorry Cllr Smart was feeling distressed and did not know what was going on, saying his connection into the meeting was poor.
Speaking after the meeting, Cllr Brodie said:
"When I was raising a point of order on Wednesday I had no idea that Cllr Smart was talking or indeed talking about her late husband when I raised my point of order. All I had on the laptop screen was her face.
"The suggestion that I would deliberately upset Cllr Smart when she is talking about her late husband is a gross insult."
You can see what happened at the meeting, here:
By Louise Hill, Local Democracy Reporter
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