Email row Party boss saw message before it was sent

CHELTENHAM Deputy Mayor Sandra Holliday says she ran a controversial email past council leader Rowena Hay before sending it to Liberal Democrat colleagues.

The Cheltenham Borough Councillor for St Mark’s came under fire last year over her response after a former councillor’s use of a racial slur during a council meeting.

She said the comments by the then borough councillor Dennis Parsons were “ill-judged” but that his broad point was that “we learn from the past”.

In an email sent by Cllr Holliday to her Liberal Democrat party colleagues last year she said social media posts made by borough councillors “added unnecessary fuel to the fire and stoked up comments by those reading the posts who were clearly unaware of the context”.

Cllr Holliday also wrote in the email that the dialogue of TV shows such as Love Thy Neighbour in the 1970s was “not racist then, it was a sign of the times”.

Cllr Holliday is currently a nonaligned councillor and is understood to be serving a six-month suspension from the Liberal Democrats.

Several councillors opposed her election as deputy mayor at the annual selection of council meeting on May 17.

During the Cheltenham Borough Council meeting, Cllr Holliday said she ran the email past Cllr Rowena Hay before emailing her former Liberal Democrat colleagues last year.

She also said the then council leader, Steve Jordan, said he did not find her email outrageous and that leaking it to the press was more serious.

“Having run the email that has been spoken about past Rowena Hay with no adverse comments, I emailed all Lib Dem council colleagues individually from my personal email address following an acrimonious Lib Dem group meeting on June 12, 2020,” she said.

“Whilst not marking the email as confidential, it was never intended for it to be made public or shared outside the group,” she said. “On June 18, I received an email from the Lib Dems standards office notifying me of an anonymous complaint made against me.

“On June 19, I had a call from the Gloucestershire Echo asking me for comment on my email which was leaked to them. “They would not divulge the source. “The then leader of the council and Lib Dem group leader Steve Jordan told me that he did not find my email to be outrageous and considered the leaking of the email was more serious.

“I can put my hands on my heart and say at no time did I defend the comments made by a certain member of the chamber at that time.”

Cllr Hay confirmed that she had received the email before it was sent to party colleagues.

“Cllr Holiday did pass it by me before she sent the email to the Liberal Democrat group,” she said. “I made some observations and left it for her to decide whether she sent it or not.”

The Local Democracy Reporting Service has tried contacting Steve Jordan, who is no longer a borough councillor, but is yet to hear back from him.

Having run the email that has been spoken about past Rowena Hay with no adverse comments, I emailed all Lib Dem council colleagues individually

Deputy Mayor Sandra Holliday, pictured