VIDEO: Footage shows chaos at Havering Council meeting after Cllr Jeffrey Tucker motion
Footage taken at the town hall shows Cllr Jeffry Tucker pointing and shouting at other councillors. - Credit: Archant
This video footage shows the incredible moment a councillor was physically restrained by members of his own party as order at a Havering Council meeting dissolved.
There were ugly verbal exchanges between warring members when a bitter race row debate at Wednesday night’s full council meeting descended into chaos.
Members feared violence would erupt at Havering Town Hall following Cllr Jeffrey Tucker’s refusal to apologise for comments he had made in last week’s Recorder suggesting black and white council officers could not work together.
A motion, from the Conservatives, called on Cllr Tucker, leader of the Independent Residents’ Group, to apologise after he said white Havering Council officers would find it “awkward and uncomfortable” to work with non-white Newham colleagues if a back office merger between the authorities went ahead.
Chairman, Mayor Cllr Eric Munday, abandoned the meeting shortly before 11pm as councillors shouted and jeered Cllr Tucker who had demanded the wording of what he was being asked to apologise for was included in the motion.
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Issuing an apology without that, Cllr Tucker said, would be “like signing a blank cheque”.
An emotional and highly-agitated Cllr Tucker repeatedly demanded the Conservative group and Havering’s legal officer, Ian Burns, supply him with what he said, before adding that his remarks were “not said in that context”.
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In extraordinary scenes after the end of the meeting, Cllr Tucker was restrained by his arms by other councillors after leaving his seat to confront Mr Burns.
An angry exchange took place between Cllr Tucker and Labour’s Cllr Denis Breading, with Cllr Breading telling Cllr Tucker to “bring it on”.
Speaking after the meeting, council leader Cllr Michael White (Con) said he had “never seen anything like it” during his 20 years in office.
Labour group leader Cllr Keith Darvill said he was worried the meeting, which lasted more than five hours, would “end up in some kind of punch-up”.
The authority’s motion for Cllr Tucker to withdraw his statement and “unreservedly apologise” never came to a vote but the merger of back office services between Havering and Newham was approved.
After the meeting Cllr Tucker again said he could not make an apology without knowing all details of what he was being asked to apologise for being included in the motion.
Havering Council’s podcast of the meeting until its official close can be seen here.
