THERE'S in an old English saying which refers to a person, if he is utterly outrageous as having "The Cheek of Old Nick" or "The Cheek of the Devil." I have no doubt whatsoever that one new and comprehensive expression will soon be replacing both.

In the near future the entire nation will, instead, refer to someone having, "The Cheek of Charlie Grattan." This is the man whose bungled attempt to justify the council's action in respect of David Christley has just cost us, that's you and me, £29,000. He shows all the character and guts of an elderly and sick spaniel with his undying devotion to the "party line," whether it be right or wrong. He called Mike Ford "venomous." The problem with Mike Ford and his kind is that they are simply too generous and polite when dealing with the Charlie Grattans of this world.

Charlie compounds his mistake by insisting that he "Stands by" his original statement about David Christley. A statement that, when questioned about it by the tribunal chairman, he clearly didn't fully understand, let alone believe.

The chairman, a distinguished QC who is experienced, in his line of work, at spotting the odd misinterpretation, said in his report that he "preferred" to believe the evidence of another councillor rather than that of Charlie Grattan.

In more civilised times, such a judgment would have seen a councillor resign to fight his seat in a by-election to see whether his electorate agreed with his behaviour. Not Grattan, though! Bold as brass he plasters his name and discredited allegations about Christley, all over the local press. I hope Christley sues him for every penny he has got.

Grattan's attack on David Christley, a man judged innocent by trained lawyers, is disgraceful and typical of the "bully boy" tactics of this discredited bunch of political yobbos who bring shame upon that decent and honourable Labour Party they claim to support.

So nobody has supported Dave Christley to you, Cllr Grattan. Do you wonder why? Is it because some of us were "leaned on" not to support him at the time and we certainly do not want the same treatment he got?

It's commonly believed Christley was ousted in order to close down Morecambe Tourism department as a separate entity. Have the guts to admit it, it went pear-shaped on you because Christley is a fighter and I suspect you haven't heard the last of him.

Disgusted

Labour supporter

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.