UK politician dies and will get weird ‘he wasn’t standard’ tribute
Michael Jones left office accused of “bullying and inappropriate behaviour” and creating a “culture of fear” and a pal said after his death “he wasn’t popular, but he did some good things”
A controversial ex-council leader has received an unusual tribute after his death from a pal who concedes that ‘he wasn’t popular’ – but claims ‘he did some good things’.
Former leader of Cheshire East Council Michael Jones resigned under a cloud amid accusations of bullying. After his death at 61, a friend admitted he won’t be missed by everyone.
David Marren, an ex-colleague and long-time pal, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “I know full well that some people liked him and some people didn’t like him.”
Jones left office accused of “bullying and inappropriate behaviour”, creating a “culture of fear” and “shouting” and using “foul language” as “a matter of course”. But his friend defended his record: “I accept he wasn’t popular, but he did some good things.”
Jones left his post in 2015 after coming under fire over contracts with a firm owned by his physiotherapist. A review by auditors Grant Thornton spotlighted his eccentric style of leadership (although he was never prosecuted over the deals with Core Fit).
Jones said the report was not “fair and accurate” and its conclusions were “regrettable”. He claimed the “vindictive” investigation was a “politically motivated attack” by his opponents in “collusion” with police.
But the probe found that the council had suffered from “the poor behaviours of one man… the former leader”. The auditors said he had tied to run the council “as if it was his own private entity”.
Marren said: “I was very sad to learn Michael had died.” He added that Jones had reduced council costs during his leadership and froze council tax for residents every year.
“He’d only been a councillor for a year when he became leader, which is a massive jump,” he said.
“Michael was the one that led the restructuring of Alderley Park, and he helped create both Macclesfield Town Council and Crewe Town Council.
“There had been some efforts before, certainly in Crewe, to create a town council and they had failed. Michael, as Cheshire East leader, was supportive of it. If he had been against it, it wouldn’t have happened. That was a good thing for the town as far as I’m concerned.”
Mr Jones was elected to Cheshire East as the Conservative member for Bunbury in 2011 and became council leader the next year. After stepping down he sat as an independent councillor then resigned in 2017.
Former Cheshire East councillor Marren was his friend since they were elected together in 2011.
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