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A war of words has broken out between an ex-Conservative councillor and his former party in Hillingdon over the circumstances around his resignation.
Just days after the Conservatives' resounding win in Hillingdon, Cllr Kaushik Banerjee resigned and chose to sit as an Independent for Ickenham & South Harefield. He said this was due to a lack of strategy in tackling the council's financial crisis from the new administration.
In response, the Hillingdon Conservative Group told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that they were surprised by his reasoning "particularly given he sat on the select committee responsible for scrutinising the council's finances and never raised any of these concerns publicly, privately, or with the leadership of the Conservative Group".
Now, Cllr Banerjee says he cannot accept being "portrayed as having remained silent" on these matters. He said: "I fully expected political criticism following my decision to resign the Conservative whip.
"What I did not expect was for both the Hillingdon Conservative Group's spokesperson and the Leader of the Council to publicly claim that I had never raised concerns, when emails, meetings, correspondence and committee proceedings show that I did, repeatedly and over a number of years. I can accept being disagreed with.
"I cannot accept being portrayed as having remained silent when the record shows that I did not. That narrative not only calls my integrity into question as a councillor and my professional credibility as a qualified accountant with restructuring experience, but also presents residents with an account of events that is fundamentally inconsistent with the documented record.
"The evidence is extensive, contemporaneous and leaves no room for the suggestion that these concerns were never raised. The evidence exists, the record is clear, and residents can judge for themselves whether those public statements were a fair reflection of the facts."
The LDRS has seen a number of emails which indicate that Cllr Banerjee did in fact raise concerns with party leadership about council finances. This includes an email in which he asked questions about financial discrepancies and the potential savings that could be made relating to a four-day week trial.
However, according to a spokesperson for Hillingdon Conservatives, their previous comment related only to the period since Cllr Steve Tuckwell was elected leader of the group and the council in May.
A spokesperson said: "The response to [the LDRS] was clearly in relation to Cllr Banerjee's criticisms of the council's leadership under Cllr Tuckwell. The emails you reference pre-date his election as leader and simply do not support the claims he has subsequently made around his decision to abandon Hillingdon Conservatives."
The spokesperson went on to accuse Cllr Banerjee of misrepresenting the party, and to claim that despite repeated attempts by Cllr Tuckwell, Leader of the Council, to engage with Cllr Banerjee, he chose not to do so.
They added: "Residents will draw their own conclusions. While he continues to clutch at straws and rely on selective extracts from old internal discussions, he failed to attend the Audit, Finance and Performance Committee on which he serves last week - the very topic that he felt he could contribute best as an independent. He continues to take the residents who elected him for fools.
"If Cllr Banerjee genuinely believes in the case he is making, he should stop attempting to play politics from the sidelines and have the courage to put it before the electorate at the ballot box. As was witnessed last night in Hillingdon West ward, the first public judgement has been undertaken on Hillingdon Conservatives under the leadership of Cllr Tuckwell and our residents have delivered an overwhelming vote of support."
The LDRS asked Cllr Banerjee why he did not attend the committee meeting on Tuesday, June 9. He explained that he was out of the country on a prior work commitment, but showed that he sent his apologies and questions that he intended to ask, to the Chair. He says if he could have joined virtually he would have.
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