Oldham councillor given warning over ‘scandalous’ behaviour

An Oldham councillor alleged to have been caught ‘spying’ on a private meeting during a ferocious leadership race at the town hall last year has been given a ‘warning’.

Coun Mark Kenyon was reprimanded for using his phone to covertly listen in and record a negotiation between council leadr Arooj Shah and a group of independent councillors. 

CCTV footage leaked in May 2024 appeared to show the Lib Dem councillor placing a ‘listening device’ outside the leader’s office door.

He can then be seen in the hallway holding what appears to be a phone to his ear and pausing to listen, before entering a nearby room containing a number of other Lib Dem councillors.

An audio recording was later posted online, with claims it led to online death threats and bullying of councillors involved in the meeting.  

The recording featured negotiations with independent councillor Marc Hince, who told the LDRS he was left ‘concerned for his and his family’s welfare’ due to abuse he received online following the leak.

The LDRS has now discovered Kenyon was suspended from the Liberal Democrat party after receiving a complaint about his conduct in May 2024.

The suspension has now been lifted after an internal investigation by the party handed Kenyon a formal warning, but stated the councillor had ‘received punishment enough’. 

Kenyon, for Saddleworth West and Lees, reportedly admitted to the wrong-doing in front of the Lib Dem complaints panel.

He also admitted to sharing the recording with a non-member.  

Kenyon, who declined to comment on any of these matters, maintains he is not responsible for the online leak.

The incident took place in May, when opposition councillors formed an alliance in a bid to oust the sitting council leader.

Shah was negotiating with the independents from Shaw and Crompton and Failsworth in order to secure her leadership, following Labour losing their overall majority in the local elections.

The meeting came under fire online due to the presence of then chief executive Harry Catherall, though the council argued he was in attendance as a ‘mediator’.

An Oldham Labour spokesperson said: “We’re disappointed that the Liberal Democrats took so long to deal with this complaint, only to then decide that the individual in question being suspended for that length of time was punishment enough.

“What happened that day in May last year was scandalous, it was one of the biggest displays of contempt and deceit we’ve ever come across in politics, and we can’t pretend that recording private meetings of political opponents and releasing them to the public is normal.

“This says a lot about the standards in public life when elected members can get away with this type of behaviour, it’s no wonder politics in Oldham are so toxic.”

Complaints were also lodged against four other Lib Dem councillors, who were inside the room Kenyon entered while holding his phone to his ear.

But these were not upheld by the party and the members were cleared of wrongdoing.

The Oldham Lib Dems declined to comment on this story saying there is still an ongoing standards complaint against a number of councillors from OMBC, which were lodged at a similar time but are yet to be concluded.

And a spokesperson for the national Liberal Democrats said: “Mark Kenyon has apologised for his behaviour.

"He is subject to an ongoing Oldham Council standards investigation.“

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