CARRY ON COUNCILLOR!
Town hall chief keeps job after PA is fired ‘over fling with him’
A MARRIED mother has been sacked after she was allegedly caught having an affair with her boss, a Labour council leader – who has kept his job.
Hayley Selvester, 33, was personal assistant to Councillor Aaron Shotton, 42, when claims about their relationship surfaced in June.
Reports at the time suggested the pair had been having sex in his office at Flintshire Council in North Wales. Mrs Selvester was fired last week for gross misconduct but sources at the council say her colleagues are furious that Mr Shotton is still in his post.
Amid calls for his resignation, he has kept his job while the local government ombudsman for Wales
‘Stand by for fireworks’
investigates. If Mr Shotton is found to have broken the council’s code of conduct, he could be referred to the authority’s standards committee or the independent adjudication panel for Wales, which has the power to suspend him or ban him from office.
Mrs Selvester declined to comment when approached by the Daily Mail at her home in Hawarden, North Wales. It is understood she has lodged an appeal against her dismissal.
However, a source told the Mail: ‘Hayley’s colleagues are absolutely livid. While she has been sacked, the council leader is still strutting around determined to hang on to office. But if people think Hayley is going to let him get away scotfree they are in for a shock.
‘ She is a smart, resourceful woman. She is waiting to see what the ombudsman’s inquiry decides. If she feels an injustice at the end of the day, stand by for fireworks.’
Twice married Mr Shotton has been leader of Flintshire Council for six years. In 2015 he boasted he would run ‘the first Corbynista council in the UK’ after Jeremy Corbyn was elected Labour leader. His second wife Ceri, 36, is a volunteer support worker for cancer victims. He has two children with first wife, Sarah. Talk of an affair emerged when mother- of-two Mrs Selvester’s husband Dale, 34, a housing officer with the council, turned up at Connah’s Quay Labour Club – of which Mr Shotton is chairman – looking for him. He showed other councillors text messages allegedly sent between his wife and Mr Shotton which suggested they had sex in his council office.
Last night Mr Shotton did not respond to requests to comment but opposition members on the council called for him to resign or at least step down until the investigation is completed.
Clive Carver, leader of the Conservative group, said: ‘It would have been honourable for him to go.’ Independent group leader Mike Peers said there was a lot of ‘disquiet and disappointment’ that Mr Shotton remained in post while Mrs Selvester had been forced out.
‘If it’s serious on her part, it must be mirrored for the other party,’ Mr Peers said. He and other opposition leaders wrote to Mr Shotton asking him to step down but received no response, he added.
Flintshire Council said it was unable to comment.