Former town hall chief quits Labour Party
FORMER Rochdale council leader Richard Farnell has quit the Labour Party.
The two-time town hall chief was suspended by Labour in April 2018 after a national child abuse inquiry found he lied under oath.
Coun Farnell has always strongly denied misleading the inquiry.
In a statement Coun Farnell said he had resigned because he had ‘no confidence’ he would receive a fair disciplinary hearing and could ‘no longer support a party led by Jeremy Corbyn.’
Coun Farnell was suspended just half an hour after the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) reported its conclusions.
IICSA found Coun Farnell had ‘lied under oath’ when giving evidence about the town’s notorious Knowl View school, where children were abused over a 25 years period.
In May this year police looking into allegations Coun Farnell committed perjury during the IICSA hearings dropped their investigation saying there was ‘insufficient evidence’ to take any criminal action against him.
In a statement Coun Farnell said: “I resigned from
the Labour Party some time ago. I have done so for two reasons.
“I have no confidence that I will receive a fair hearing in dealing with my suspension.
“My 15-month suspension is unjust and has gone on far too long. I have on three occasions asked for progress to be made only to be completely ignored. Only after a complaint was lodged by my local party did they eventually write to me. Too little, too late.
“I have 16 pages of evidence that proves beyond any doubt that I could not have been told about events at Knowl View. I told the truth to the Independent Inquiry and the Metropolitan Police’s decision to clear me of allegations of perjury vindicates this.
“The second reason is that after 44 years’ loyal membership, I cannot any longer support a party led by Jeremy Corbyn. Labour is being destroyed by extremists and fanatics who have infiltrated the party and now control all the major levers of power.
“We have the most inept and unpopular Tory government in living memory, yet Labour came a miserable fourth in the European elections and our support is down to just 18 percent in recent polls - the lowest in our history.
“Any decent opposition would today be polling over 50 per cent and on course for a landslide victory.”
He said the party was becoming ‘unelectable’ and in ‘danger of extinction’
Mr Farnell added: “I have no quarrel with the local party and our MP. I will continue to support the hardworking members of the Labour Group on the council who are doing an excellent job in maintaining public services in the face of swingeing cuts from the Tory government. I will not be joining any other party.
“I am grateful for the support I have received from scores of party members over recent months. In many ways, I feel I am letting them down by resigning, but for me, I have reached the end. Enough is enough.”
Coun Farnell says he will stand down as a councillor at the next local elections in May.
Coun John Blundell, spokesman for the Rochdale Constituency Labour Party, said he was sad to see Coun Farnell resign.
He said: “We wish him well. We believe he resigned over the length of time it took for the party to resolve these matters. We have already commented that we believe the party should resolve issues like these in a speedy fashion as soon as the evidence is collected. We hope the party will take heed on this in the future.”
Current Rochdale council leader Allen Brett said he was ‘sad’ Coun Farnell had resigned but ‘understood why.’ He added: “If he had wanted to stand as a Labour candidate next May they had made it impossible.
“I just think it’s sad that somebody who has been in the party for 40 years has been forced out by processes rather than policies.”
When asked in light of the IICSA’s finding if he would have been happy as leader of the local Labour group for Coun Farnell to stand for re-election as a Labour candidate, Coun Brett replied: “Richard Farnell could have entered the process just like every other local party member.”
The Labour Party have been contacted for comment.