Police called after row between councillor and shop owner

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Conservatives refuse to condemn racially abusive council colleague

Tory councillors have refused to condemn a suspended colleague who made racially abusive comments to a shopkeeper.

Cllr Jaswant Singh Birdi has been suspended by the Conservative Party after the authors of two independent reports and Coventry City Council’s Ethics Committee found that he had racially abused a Sri Lankan shopkeeper.

An Extraordinary Council Meeting was held on Tuesday to discuss the Ethics Committee’s findings and present a motion to formally censure Cllr Birdi.

All Labour councillors in attendance, and Tory Allan Andrews, voted to support the motion - but the remaining Conservative councillors all abstained from the vote.

Independent Cllr Glenn Williams, who was forced to quit the Tories after becoming embroiled in a racism row of his own, was the only councillor to vote against the motion.

It was still carried given the Labour majority on the council.

The Tories said the meeting, and it’s timing, was politically motivated ahead of the General Election.

Conservative councillors said they abstained because they were in the pre-election purdah period and there were also concerns taking anything other than a neutral stance could prejudice the ongoing Conservative Party investigation into Cllr Birdi’s conduct.

Cllr Allan Andrews said he had taken the decision to vote against his colleagues because he was on the ethics committee.

He told the Telegraph: “Because I’m on the Ethics Committee I do believe in having that collective responsibility.

“It was a decision we took and did not take lightly. We found Cllr Birdi was in breach of the code of conduct.

“It would have been political to vote against colleagues on the Ethics Committee. We have a responsibility to put our decisions above party politics.”

The Telegraph has approached Cllr Birdi for comment.