Doncaster mayor tells council boss to go after two days

The council's chronic failings have been amplified as the distressing details of the Edlington court case have been revealed, and last night the authority faced a stand-off between its two most powerful figures – a situation which one senior member described as "loopy".

The revelation that Mayor Peter Davies has told Tim Leader he should resign is contained in a letter, seen by the Yorkshire Post, which also reveals the mayor has obtained legal advice in a bid to force Mr Leader from office.

The interim chief executive was appointed on Monday, after being approved during a heated meeting of the full council.

This followed the sudden resignation of the former chief officer Paul Hart last week, who cited "personal reasons" for his decision to go.

It now transpires that Mayor Davies, who is an English Democrat, does not want to accept Mr Leader, the former monitoring officer whose appointment was confirmed by 38 votes to 15 at the council meeting.

A six-page letter from Mr Leader to Mayor Davies, sent on Wednesday, details a series of events which included the interim chief executive being called into the mayor's office that morning to be told of impending legal action against his appointment.

Mr Leader wrote: "Consequent upon this (legal) advice you stated that you intended to apply for judicial review of my appointment with the intention of quashing the decision.

"You went on to say that neither you nor your cabinet has any confidence in me, that you do not recognise me as head of paid service, that I am not to attend any formal meeting of the authority at which you or your cabinet are present and that if I do so you or they will 'walk out'."

The letter then detailed the background to Mr Leader's appointment, which was approved by councillors, although Mayor Davies had wanted Robin Hooper, a consultant currently working as deputy director of children's services.

Mr Leader wrote that he declined the mayor's request, made before Monday's meeting, that he step aside for Mr Hooper and advised the mayor that the correct process for the appointment involved a recommendation from the chief officers appointments committee, which he couldn't circumvent by engineering Mr Hooper into office.

He wrote: "On hearing what was going on I came to see you and counselled against entering into discussions with a contractor to the council to engage his services in respect of an agreement worth hundreds of thousands of pounds without having first thought about the need to comply with contract standing orders and financial regulations.

"I drew attention in particular to the fact that Robin Hooper is not an officer and that you ought not to be entering into private discussions ... You brushed off this advice."

Mr Leader said he had met Mayor Davies after the council meeting and the mayor told him he was disappointed with the outcome but that he could work with him.

But the picture changed after Mr Leader declined the mayor's request that he appoint Nick Jarman, currently running children's services, as a deputy.

The letter continued: "This morning when you met my Corporate Management Team colleagues at Executive Board you told them I was guilty of having improperly influenced the process that led to my appointment and this together with the alleged defects in the procedure adopted by Council rendered my appointment unlawful. You stated I should not attend meetings, had lost the confidence of you and the Cabinet and ought to resign, although you noted I would not."

Amidst all the chaos, Mr Leader was preparing to go to London for a critical Whitehall meeting with the Department for Communities and Local Government, which took place yesterday, to address the council's poor performance as judged by the Audit Commission.

The letter added that he remained committed to working with the mayor "to discharge your agenda once it has become clear ... Thus, if you would like to discuss how we might resolve the difficulties that have arisen I shall be glad to talk to you. I shall not, however, be forced from my post by a peremptory, improper, unfair and wholly unjustified demand for my resignation."

Mayor Davies declined to comment yesterday.