Following revelations in the Salford Star this week, Matt Finnegan, Salford Council's `Assistant Director of Communications', has resigned from his £65,000 a year job.
Finnegan's role was supposed to be `politically restricted' but an email to the Manchester Evening News, leaked to the Salford Star, showed that he was promoting Mayor Ian Stewart's political choice of Rebecca Long-Bailey, a Labour Party candidate for the seat of retiring MP Hazel Blears (see the full Salford Star article – click here)
Apparently, after pressure from politically neutral senior officers at Salford Council, Finnegan resigned this afternoon.
The Salford Star currently has an official complaint against Matt Finnegan being investigated after he told a press agency that the Star's editor would be banned from the local election count this year. Returning Officer, Ben Dolan issued a personal apology to the Salford Star stating that "it was wrong" (see here).
Since Finnegan has been running Salford Council's press department over the last two years, firstly in a freelance capacity and later as a full time employee, Mayor Ian Stewart has had a stormy relationship with anyone who has challenged him…
…The Salford Star has been slurred (see previous Salford Star article – click here), officers from staff trade union Salford City UNISON have been slurred (see here) and campaigners against cuts to some of the most vulnerable people in the city have also been slurred (see here).
Matt Finnegan was widely seen as the Mayor's toxic political spin doctor and certainly shall not be missed by the Salford Star…
Meanwhile, three Labour councillors this week `called-in' a decision by the Mayor to approve almost £4.4million of cuts to services for the most vulnerable people in the city (see here).
Now that Matt Finnegan has left the Council and with councillors in open rebellion, Mayor Ian Stewart's position is becoming less and less tenable…
* Unsurprisingly, there has been no press statement from Salford Council or the Mayor this afternoon. Neither has the Mayor's Twitter account been updated for six hours.
* See also related Salford Star article - Salford Council Political Spin Doctor Horror - click here
Main photo shows Matt Finnegan (extreme right) in the thick of it as campaigners occupy Salford Council chamber during a cuts meeting.
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