Before the last election one of the small independent groups on Durham County Council with four members had two members with disabilities. The introduction of push button voting and other technology caused problems so a table was placed at the front of the chamber for the four councillors to sit at, in front of the official opposition, and in fact further forward than the Labour cabinet too.

Now that sadly the two councillors who required to sit at the front are no longer councillors, one having died and another having resigned with ill health, Cllr Shuttleworth’s group only has two members (including himself). Neither of them need to sit at the front, so the council removed the table and notified Cllr Shuttleworth of this.

In response Cllr Shuttleworth spat his dummy out and went to the press to complain.  Presumably his complaint is that the council protocol which he passionately supports when Labour do not follow the rules, somehow doesn’t apply to him. Today it appears he put the table back himself. He then didn’t speak once throughout the whole meeting. Which begs some questions in itself.

This got me thinking, what would happen in Parliament if a member of another party put a chair in front of Ed Miliband at Question Time, sat down and said nothing for the whole event. I guess some people would see it as a blessing, but others might see it as rather rude and suggest that policy is supposed to apply to everyone equally. The said person would certainly be asked to move.

It further got me thinking as to what the definition of a group is. Each opposition group leader receives an additional allowance for their extra responsibilities of £3325. If your group is made up of yourself and one other councillor should you receive £3325 extra in taxpayers money?

Needless to say I got on with the proper business of council, challenging officers and the Labour run Cabinet on a number of issues and supporting them on others, whilst all the time observing the rather quiet back of Mr Shuttleworth’s head.