Swearing, suspensions and 'toxic' atmosphere - what's happening in Nottingham Labour?

THE opposition at Nottingham City Council has been in a pathetic state for well over a decade now.

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This is not to be rude to those who have occupied the unenviable position of being a non-Labour councillor in Nottingham, but on a purely numerical basis, no party has caused Labour to quake in its boots since the late 1980s.

It is not surprising then that Nottingham Labour councillors have become more accustomed to fighting each other than their supposed opponents. Jockeying for leadership roles and a degree of factional infighting is nothing new in Nottingham Labour.

Yet with the national party having made some hugely controversial decisions in its bid to get back into Number 10, many now describe a "toxic" atmosphere in the Labour group.

You may think none of it matters, but this is the group of councillors who run Nottingham and the political group that has been in charge of the city council with the majority of councillors since 1991.

Leaders of Nottingham Labour, and thereby the city council, in that time have included Betty Higgins, John Taylor, Graham Chapman, Brian Parbutt, Jon Collins, David Mellen and Neghat Khan. Many on that list may stir various emotions depending on your political persuasion, but it is the election of the latter which has caused Nottingham Labour to reach its most fractious state in years.

This is not just exaggeration. Two councillors have been suspended by the group in the space of a couple of months, one of them for seeming to suggest that Muslims should not vote Labour.

We recently had claims that Labour Party officials swore and shouted at a Nottingham councillor, with one of them allegedly dubbing the city council a "s***hole."

Not content with commissioners overseeing the council as a whole, the Labour Party has sent in its own group of officials to monitor the goings on in Nottingham Labour. How did we get to this point and where could things end up?