OUTRAGED Daily Echo readers have backed calls for the leader of Bournemouth council to stand down after “top shelf” adult material was found on a council laptop he had used.

And a former Conservative councillor says Cllr Stephen MacLoughlin should be suspended from the Tory party, despite his cabinet colleagues giving him their unanimous support to stay as chairman of the cabinet and leader of the council.

One emailer said: “Council leaders and so-called executives should be pillars of society but in Bournemouth that is clearly not the case.

“It has been quiet for almost a year but now, oh, how the mighty fall. When the adult material was found it should have been brought to the immediate attention of the councillors’ standards body. An ordinary member of staff would have been sacked over this.”

Another reader said: “I feel there must be some conflict of interest here in so much as the leader of the council oversees all organisations fighting for a better place to live in this area and encouraging better community and family relationships.”

Butlincat said: “Give me one good reason why he shouldn’t be removed from his privileged position and be made to pay for abusing the trust and finances of those who put him there”, while Jr said: “Goes to show, one rule for them, another for the rest of us.”

David Clutterbuck, who served for 19 years on the council before splitting with the town’s Tories, said Cllr MacLoughlin “should go – without a shadow of doubt”.

The chairman of East Cliff and Town Centre residents’ association added: “He should certainly be suspended from the Conservative party.

“The chief executive should have reported this case to the standards board as it involved the misuse of council property.

“Cllr MacLoughlin is paid a salary of around £36,000 and I’m not surprised that he doesn’t want to lose it. But there is no way he can last.”

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