Oxford Lord Mayor Alan Armitage resigns after being censured for inappropriate comment to schoolgirl

1:23pm Monday 4th March 2013 in News Photograph of the Author By Freddie Whittaker, covering Politics and Kidlington. Call me on 01865 425498

Alan Armitage Alan Armitage

LORD Mayor of Oxford Alan Armitage has stood down from his civic role after being censured by colleagues.

The Lib Dem councillor handed a letter to city council chief executive Peter Sloman and then e-mailed councillors in the past hour to tender his resignation from the post.

It is understood he will not be resigning as a councillor at this time.

The resignation comes after the council’s standards committee ruled that it was “highly probable” Mr Armitage made an inappropriate comment to a member of an under-13 sports team at an event last June.

He was accused of telling the girl: “It’s sexy when you bend down like that”.

Current deputy mayor Mohammed Abbasi will step in to the role temporarily until the completion of the Mayoral year in May. Mr Abbasi was unaware of his elevation until contacted by the Oxford Mail.

A ballot of oxfordmail.co.uk readers showed 83 per cent of them felt Mr Armitage could not continue in the role following last week's standards committee ruling.

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Comments(26)

Lord Palmerstone says...
1:33pm Mon 4 Mar 13

He looks remarkably like Lord Rennard. Are they Social Democrat Party stereotypes? Will Clegg's face morph into a Billy Bunter mask in 2015 before the Great Witless British Public elect him Prime Minister?

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mandate says...
2:20pm Mon 4 Mar 13

So he has stood down. Good riddance to the decrepit old fool. If he made a comment like that to my 13 year old daughter, I would have knocked
What goes on in the minds of warped old men like him? I wonder what his wife, children and grandchildren think of his behaviour? I can't imagine that they are impressed.

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mandate says...
2:23pm Mon 4 Mar 13

'Knocked him down' was missing in the above post.

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bart-on simpson says...
2:35pm Mon 4 Mar 13

Good.

Tell me more about Mohammed Abbasi, please.

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Dilligaf2010 says...
2:41pm Mon 4 Mar 13

"Can a Lord Mayor who has brought the office into disrepute over inappropriate comments continue in the role?".....No
......But, the comments that were, or were not, made, can't be proven either way.... “highly probable”..... isn't sufficient proof to tarnish somebody's character for life.
We live in a democracy, apparently, and as far as I'm aware, the law states;-
Innocent, until PROVEN guilty.
I wonder how many of those that have called for his resignation, would be willing to have their own reputations tarnished, because of something that somebody said they'd said?

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grumpyofwhitecross says...
2:49pm Mon 4 Mar 13

Sounded like a typical politician to me..unable to make a decision until he was pushed..

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Kevin Webster Iffley Fields says...
3:42pm Mon 4 Mar 13

He was forced out by Kangaroo Courts, Witch Hunts, and Hearsay. Just the kind of thing that we invade other Third World countries for. Oxford a World Class City? Evidently not if the process of our Council is anything to go by. This man has done nothing wrong, other than be reported by a bunch of pre-pubescent girls who did not hear and could not agree on what he said, followed by a hearing by a vindictive majority Labour council. I wonder what would have happened had the Mayor been a Labour Cllr. And with Mohammed stepping into the role, it is a Fait Accompli by Labour.

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Dilligaf2010 says...
3:59pm Mon 4 Mar 13

Kevin Webster Iffley Fields wrote:
He was forced out by Kangaroo Courts, Witch Hunts, and Hearsay. Just the kind of thing that we invade other Third World countries for. Oxford a World Class City? Evidently not if the process of our Council is anything to go by. This man has done nothing wrong, other than be reported by a bunch of pre-pubescent girls who did not hear and could not agree on what he said, followed by a hearing by a vindictive majority Labour council. I wonder what would have happened had the Mayor been a Labour Cllr. And with Mohammed stepping into the role, it is a Fait Accompli by Labour.
We're reading from the same page where this issue is concerned...

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oxinkytext says...
4:25pm Mon 4 Mar 13

I think Cllr. Armitage has taken the correct decision in the circumstances. Clearly, the comment that it is claimed he made whilst on public duty was unacceptable, but we do need to keep a sense of perspective. I suspect that there are very few of us who have not regretted saying something "off the cuff" and then very quickly wished we hadn't.

I am also very disturbed by the OM claim that 83% voted against Cllr Armitage continuing in his role. Do they really think that their polls (where it seems you can vote many times!) are democratic or scientific?

All in all, a sad day for Oxford.

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SNJ says...
4:45pm Mon 4 Mar 13

This is the first time in over 800 years that an Oxford Mayor/Lord Mayor has resigned. What a year: a Pope Emeritus, and a Lord Mayor Demeritus

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cuckoo says...
4:54pm Mon 4 Mar 13

Kevin Webster Iffley Fields wrote:
He was forced out by Kangaroo Courts, Witch Hunts, and Hearsay. Just the kind of thing that we invade other Third World countries for. Oxford a World Class City? Evidently not if the process of our Council is anything to go by. This man has done nothing wrong, other than be reported by a bunch of pre-pubescent girls who did not hear and could not agree on what he said, followed by a hearing by a vindictive majority Labour council. I wonder what would have happened had the Mayor been a Labour Cllr. And with Mohammed stepping into the role, it is a Fait Accompli by Labour.
Maybe being naïve here but, why would said "pre-pubescent teenage girl/s" make any allegation of inappropriate comment against Mr Armitage......and it be taken seriously....unless there was a distinct element of truth? As an individual with a high profile in the City (plus the very sad current High Court case) one might imagine he (Mr Armitage) might have be a little more careful in his choice of words/interaction with the young female athletes!!
But, in all honesty, (and in agreement with poster Mandate) IF my young daughter told me any man had said similar to her....I would have made sure he FELT my displeasure...regard
less of his status!!!

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cuckoo says...
4:57pm Mon 4 Mar 13

I didn't mean to imply the ex -mayor had any connection with the current High Court case!!!

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Quentin Walker says...
5:59pm Mon 4 Mar 13

Dilligaf2010 "...We live in a democracy, apparently, and as far as I'm aware, the law states;-
Innocent, until PROVEN guilty...."

You are quite correct. However, that applies to criminal cases only. A lesser burden of proof applies in civil matters and 'on the balance of probabilities' is sufficient to reach a decision.

I hope this helps.

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oxinkytext says...
6:17pm Mon 4 Mar 13

Quentin Walker wrote:
Dilligaf2010 "...We live in a democracy, apparently, and as far as I'm aware, the law states;- Innocent, until PROVEN guilty...." You are quite correct. However, that applies to criminal cases only. A lesser burden of proof applies in civil matters and 'on the balance of probabilities' is sufficient to reach a decision. I hope this helps.
I assume this is correct (what you say about civil matters).

What I do not understand is how long this whole saga took. The alleged remark was made at a function on 21 June 2012, but a conclusion was not reached until last week (27 February 2013). That is 8 months! Surely, such a relatively simple case could and should have been sorted out much earlier? This length of time does not seem fair to any of the parties involved and, of course, Cllr. Armitage continued to fulfill his mayoral duties in the meantime.

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Geoff Roberts says...
8:44pm Mon 4 Mar 13

Regardless of the presumption of innocence this is the best outcome. Perception of people, particularly in these positions, is all important. You can't make everyone else shut up and not talk about the issue. The man has clearly not dealt with it as best as he could have, the responses he's given including the him suggesting he was misheard and actually said something like "best stand next to me" have made the situation worse. These responses create more uncertainty, more questions. People probably should bear in mind that these allegations have been made by children as far as I'm aware. So when people talk about innocent until proven guilty they may have to bear in mind that if he is innocent then there's another problem in that the children could be seen to be lying. That's probably why he said he didn't think they were lying, just mistaken.

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benjamin says...
10:19pm Mon 4 Mar 13

bart-on simpson wrote:
Good.

Tell me more about Mohammed Abbasi, please.
That's a good old Oxford name.

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Budowaah says...
10:51pm Mon 4 Mar 13

Social mobility is the kerosene, political correctness the match,

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mytaxes says...
10:54pm Mon 4 Mar 13

Do we really need a Mayor in Oxford, if so, wouldn't it be a good idea to have an elected mayor rather than a councillor given the job as it is his/her turn?

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TOPSEY 66 says...
11:06am Tue 5 Mar 13

If there was a remote possibility that the mayor did make this comment he should have stood down much earlier and cleared his name, instead he chose to prolong the case and made it much more difficult than it needed to be.The council did not help by holding the standards comity in secret and then not publishing the report in full. What are we going to use when the council finely kills democracy. HE SHOULD NOT HAVE A CHOICE AS TO WEATHER OR NOT HE STAYS ON AS A LIB DEM COUNCILOR. Its called standards in case you cant remember.

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Doctor69 says...
1:14pm Tue 5 Mar 13

Dirty old nonce.

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BenkiuGuasu says...
3:32pm Tue 5 Mar 13

What else might he have said? "It's vexxing when you do that." Hhhmmm... Innocent till guilty and all that nonce, aye....but the fact he's resigned suggests he probably did say something he wishes he hadn't....

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fairy godmother says...
6:06pm Wed 6 Mar 13

The world is full of dirty old men....mayors, priests, cardinals, football coaches, scout leaders, swimming coaches and the list goes on, what is the matter with them all......

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In_The_Nikon_Time says...
7:49pm Wed 6 Mar 13

Dilligaf2010 wrote:
"Can a Lord Mayor who has brought the office into disrepute over inappropriate comments continue in the role?".....No
......But, the comments that were, or were not, made, can't be proven either way.... “highly probable”..... isn't sufficient proof to tarnish somebody's character for life.
We live in a democracy, apparently, and as far as I'm aware, the law states;-
Innocent, until PROVEN guilty.
I wonder how many of those that have called for his resignation, would be willing to have their own reputations tarnished, because of something that somebody said they'd said?
Surely the fact that he resigned says it all. If there was no truth it the "highly probable" remark he would have refuted it and carried on.

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TOPSEY 66 says...
9:14pm Wed 6 Mar 13

How can any one continually quote democracy when an elected council holds a standards comity in secret and then keeps the result a secret and then refuses to tell the voters who paid for it how much it cost. I hope that nobody knocks on my door and as.ks me to vote for them.

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TOPSEY 66 says...
12:16pm Thu 7 Mar 13

The mayor has been found guilty of bringing the office into disrepute and he finally stood down.This took 9 months There is no case for innocent until proven guilty.the committee found him guilty' When he changed his plea when the case was to be heard in secret This gave the game away.This also meant that the report that had been written had to be scrapped and re- written. Is any one any where considering the cost of this case to a so called cash strapped council. Goodbye ex lord mayor and do not come back in any capacity as your past will be waiting for you.You have damaged the office YOU FOOL

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ckarnsosit6 says...
1:28pm Fri 8 Mar 13

Lord Palmerstone wrote:
He looks remarkably like Lord Rennard. Are they Social Democrat Party stereotypes? Will Clegg's face morph into a Billy Bunter mask in 2015 before the Great Witless British Public elect him Prime Minister?
Oh! my lord mayor of oxford being resigned a sorry me

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