'Aggressive' councillor suspended

A Newcastle councillor has been suspended for three months from overseeing meetings after being "rude and aggressive" to a council officer.

Coun John Gordon has been told to write letters of apology to those he offended and will also have to be retrained, Newcastle City Council said.

An inquiry found that he breached its code of conduct and failed to "treat others with respect".

His ban means he cannot chair meetings of the Lemington Ward Committee.

Newcastle City Council's standards and audit sub-committee chairman, Mark Scrimshaw, said: "The behaviour that Coun Gordon displayed at a public meeting was not what we would expect from a member and was particularly inappropriate from a committee chair."

Coun Gordon has been told to send two letters of apology, one to the councillor he was rude to and one to all the Lemington Ward Committee members.