A COUNCILLOR took to Facebook to express his disappointment after losing his position as deputy leader of Great Aycliffe Town Council.

Long-serving town and Durham county councillor John Clare did not secure as many votes as Councillor Malcolm Iveson, who challenged him for the role at a meeting of the town council’s Labour group on Monday (May 11).

Cllr Clare, a former deputy head at Greenfield Community College, also lost his position as chair of the Labour controlled town council’s environment committee.

On Facebook, Cllr Clare said: “For the first time in 20 years as a town councillor I am simply and solely a Labour group back bencher.”

He described the move against him as “cruel and unwarranted” but said it would not make a difference to his role as town or county councillor.

He later told the Northern Echo: “I am disappointed but it is the right of the Labour group to choose the leaders they want.”

Cllr Malcolm Iveson declined to comment.

Councillor Bob Fleming, who retained his position as leader, said: “It was simply democracy. The person who gets the most votes in the ballot is the person who gets the role. These things happen in politics from time to time. Cllr Clare is an experienced councillor but so is Cllr Iveson.”