A ROW has erupted after a leading Conservative councillor accused one of his Liberal Democrat counterparts of “talking bollocks” on his Twitter webpage.
David Betts (Con, Purley), who is the West Berkshire Council executive member in charge of highways and transport, posted on June 23rd:
“Woke to Alan Macro talking bollocks on 107FM. Failed to point out we are consulting on housing in Theale, or that it is Government imposed.”
The attack refers to an interview given by Mr Macro (Lib Dem, Theale) over possible new housing sites at Theale contained in the council's Local Development Framework.
Mr Macro soon tweeted back: “Betts language [sic] was immoderate, unnecessary and did not conform to his council's requirement to treat people with respect.”
It is the first time that council spats have bubbled over onto Twitter, which allows users to post 140-character long updates about what they are doing throughout the day.
At an executive meeting, the council leader Graham Jones (Con, Lambourn) refused to take any questions about Mr Betts' tweet
Afterwards, opposition leader Jeff Brooks said: “This is just not on. There's other ways of expressing oneself.”
But Mr Betts was unapologetic.
He said: “What you've got to remember with Twitter is that it's an instant medium. You say what's in your mind at that moment and then post it. You have to expect a bit of knock about on something like Twitter.
“I did wake up to councillor Macro, who I respect as a man and have known for some time, talking about the LDF and giving a totally false impression of the situation.”
He said that he had written to Mr Macro to apologise, but had not received any response.
He said: “On reflection, I upset him and shouldn't have said that, but I've got to ask whether there was really anything to get upset about.”
Mr Macro said: “We all have to accept criticism, and I don't have any problem with that if it is well founded. In this particular case it wasn't.
“The criticism was unwarranted, and there was an unnecessary use of that word.”
He said that using swearwords on Twitter was “even worse” than in a newspaper or in debate, because it was recorded on the internet for posterity.
He said he had received no apology from Mr Betts, and was now ignoring his blog.
Mr Betts's ramblings on Twitter cover his council duties, commentary on the day's news, and love of motorsport.
His recent pearls of wisdom include: “Michael bloody Jackson, for God's sake. Not Elvis. Not John Lennon. What is all the fuss about? Don't get it.”