Norfolk County Council leader Derrick Murphy, who has temporarily stepped down.

Pressure mounts on Norfolk County Council leader to go permanently

Dan Grimmer Friday, January 11, 2013
12:00 PM

Pressure has mounted on former Norfolk County Council leader Derrick Murphy to step down for good, although he maintains he will return to the helm of County Hall.

And the man who has replaced him has hit back at claims that Mr Murphy’s actions could damage the Conservative party’s chances in May’s elections and that the county council, set to lose its chief executive David White in a matter of months, is “rudderless”.

Mr Murphy, who had been leader at the Conservative-controlled county council since October 2010, stepped down from that post on Tuesday to focus on preparing for a standards hearing into his conduct.

But he said he regards that resignation as temporary, and wants to come back after he proves he did nothing wrong.

The complaints surround an email sent by Kevin Vaughan, then political assistant to the Conservative group at County Hall, to BBC Radio Norfolk last April.

It was sent two days before West Norfolk Council leader Nick Daubney was to appear on Nick Conrad’s show to discuss the King’s Lynn incinerator, long a source of tension between West Norfolk and Norfolk County Council.

It suggested it might “be pertinent information” for the broadcaster to know that the borough council leader was facing “a serious leadership challenge” and that his authority had failed to procure alternative technology to the plant.

When the email came to light it sparked an independent investigation at County Hall, which concluded last summer that Mr Vaughan had acted on the wishes of leader Mr Murphy.

Mr Vaughan later resigned as the political assistant to the Conservative group and seven complainants – John Martin, Ron Cornell, Jenny Perryman, Joy Franklin, Christine Hall, Mark Russell and Stuart Wilkie – have alleged Mr Murphy had failed to treat both Mr Daubney and Mr Vaughan with respect and that he had brought his office or the authority into disrepute.

Barrister Jenni Richards, QC, was appointed by the county council to compile a report and concluded she believed Mr Murphy did have a case to answer, which led to the scheduling of a standards hearing.

The county council yesterday confirmed that hearing will take place on Friday, February 1.

Mr Murphy insists his departure is only temporary and that he will be cleared by the standards committee. He is confident the Conservative group, of which he remains chairman, will vote to return him to his position following the hearing.

See today’s EDP and Norwich Evening News for the full story.

17 comments

The reason the campaign has been so successful is because the proposed incinerator is in the wrong location to cause maximum anxiety over a densely populated residential area. People have respect for health more than ever as governments stopped smoking in public. Palm Paper and the Power Station with a new larger power station ready to be built was the last straw. Via the media each daily report from the public inquiry and the long wait for the decision will be an extra nail in the Tory coffin May elections. Kevingate may look like an expensive unnecessary distraction but this is evidence of a manipulating regime desperate to hoodwink the public. The austerity measures and cuts to more vital services to come. The public will respond favourably to good news so If Councillors do not admit they have got public opinion so wrong over the incinerator and reverse their decision this month before the public inquiry will see the end of Tory Party domination in Norfolk.

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batemansusan

Monday, January 14, 2013
Mr. Murphy is not cut up to be a councillor, he is not a team worker and has evaded democratic represented views. He is a ditherer as a mandate to reduce reuse and recycle has been in existence since 2000. Further, his lack of economical foresight, excluding a lucrative cyclical resource economy in the East of England which would bring jobs, employment and apprenticeships to Norfolk. Burning jobs and polluting the environment is not the answer for Norfolk or any other place, his time is up.

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ingo wagenknecht

Monday, January 14, 2013
Who cares - just bring in the clowns!! At least we can have a good laugh-someone may even make a film about it the whole thing is a stage managed farce. Can't wait for Murphy's Apologia- will he wear a toga on the steps of County Hall?

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maryjane

Sunday, January 13, 2013
Fenscape makes an excellent point. Our choice of leader (actually not choice, wrong use of that word, we dont get a look in us poor members of the public) will be Murphy or Borratt. Ghastly. Let's hope the Independents standing against these two comedians will walk in and we wont have to worry, although Fenscape does bring in the doomsday scenario. Cliffy Jordan as leader. Surely even the most stupid of Tory Councillor wont vote that in.

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Electra

Sunday, January 13, 2013
Norfolk County Council is responsible for this fiasco for not monitoring irregularities in the planning process. Anne Stewart made a hash of things concerning the incinerator so they called in Derrick the enforcer. Cabinet allowed Derrick Murphy to be leader and County Councillor in the same area where fallout from the burner knowing how sensitive and controversial incinerators are. NCC has tried every dirty trick in the book using close drinking buddies in BBC Radio Norfolk to do their character assignation on Henry Bellingham and Nick Daubney. Nick Conrad on Radio Norfolk tried to confuse the issue last week by asking how much is this inquiry going to cost but his show was involved in the conspiracy.

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Knee deep In Toxic ash

Sunday, January 13, 2013
As a complainant, gagged with a confidentiality agreement relating to the very interesting content of the report supplied by NPlaw, it is very difficult to sit back and watch NCC via the media avoid the actual issues and try to shrug this all off as anti incinerator brigade protestors or those with a political agenda. When the report is released, and we can speak, those portraying that are going to look very foolish indeed. All I will say is various people raised a complaint AN INDEPENDENT TOP QC was commissioned to thoroughly investigate the complaint and has found there is a case to answer. If there was nothing behind it she would have found no case to answer and that would have been the end of it with undoubtedly much positive publicity for Mr Murphy and even more negative, than at the moment, for the complainants!!! Dickens, Peter J and anyone else who has assumed malicious complainants really do need to keep quiet until they know the facts rather than just accept the glossed and downplayed version of the issues being relayed via the media.

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Joy, King's Lynn

Saturday, January 12, 2013
Derrick Murphy writes books on world domination, look on Amazon. He has a knack of playing the tyrant then being your best and only friend. It is the similar hallmarks of Jimmy Savile Teflon syndrome that people will not speak out until his has gone to greener pastures at Cory Wheelabrators head office.

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Alan Allan

Saturday, January 12, 2013
Derrick Murphy writes books on world domination, look on Amazon. He has a knack of playing the tyrant then being your best and only friend. It is the similar hallmarks of Jimmy Savile Teflon syndrome that people will not speak out until his has gone to greener pastures at Cory Wheelabrators head office.

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Alan Allan

Saturday, January 12, 2013
I don't know which is worse to be honest, Borrett or Murphy as leader... (Or, heavens forbid, Iffy Cliffy should the other two find themselves being voted down by their fellow tories.)

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Fenscape

Friday, January 11, 2013
Hmm...Arrogant spings to mind!

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City Boy

Friday, January 11, 2013
How lucky the QC got her report completed so quickly, so this can be put to bed well before the election. So he is confident of being returned to the position of leader. Of course he is. Like he is no doubt confident that the Tory majority on the standards committee will give him nothing more than a token rebuke, not that he could say that publicly before the event. Better that justice is seen to be done, albeit through a politically-biased sham of a process, than for suggestions of a cover-up to linger all the way to the election.

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Police Commissioner ???

Friday, January 11, 2013
One comment by Borrett that will infuriate Murphy is that the latter's absence will not affect the budget planning, which is well advanced. Let us be realistic. Murphy "stood down" to get the sympathy vote. He was in effect saying that the seven complainants should be ashamed of themselves becausue when his county needed him most he was having to sit at home preparing his defence. Well given his bullish attitude towards these complaints over the past six months, you might well imagine that it will take three minutes - not three weeks - to prepare that defence.

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Nemesis

Friday, January 11, 2013
Well well I have just heard on the radio that a local MP feels that Mr Murphy's Standards case should not be conducted by NCC but by another council as they think it may become a whitewash !!! Well please don't get Breckland DC to do it as I have just had a case against a very senior Breckland Cllr. & that was definately a white wash. "Weassel" The new regime is corrupt. When it is against high rankers, yes I did say r------, it gets no where. But I aint finished yet.

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Sandra Osborn

Friday, January 11, 2013
Come on Dan, tell us how 'the man who has replaced him' has hit back at these claims. So the hearing is Feb 1st. Is this a public hearing...?

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Scooby

Friday, January 11, 2013
Come on Dan, tell us how 'the man who has replaced him' has hit back at these claims. So the hearing is Feb 1st. Is this a public hearing...?

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Scooby

Friday, January 11, 2013
Just thinking about the leader of kings lynn council being challenged, I seem to remember it was abit of a joke as it was Murphy's henchmen who put his name in the hat and failed. I think kings lynn council should run county because they appear to know what they are doing and why.

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Sweet cheeks

Friday, January 11, 2013
Never mind even if the case is taken to "Standards " under Code of Conduct it won't do a thing as the new regime for the code is corrupt. I have just been through a case against a very high Cllr at Breckland DC what a sham !! How can a so called "Independant Investigation" take place when Breckland DC pay the Investigator lots of dosh. Game keeper Poacher comes to mind. But it aint over yet !!!! "Weasel"

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Sandra Osborn

Friday, January 11, 2013