“SHOULD I stay or should I go?” The words of that Clash song must have been clashing around Cllr Stephen MacLoughlin’s head following the series of unfortunate events, as they say, impacting heavily on the reputation of Bournemouth Council's ruling group.

Now he has stepped down as leader of the council and the Tory group.

Was he right to do so? Yes. He has been in a precarious place since the revelation last year that “top shelf” websites had been viewed on his council laptop. Had that matter been dealt with more swiftly he would not have been half so vulnerable.

The key issue was not about that inquiry itself but the shadow it cast on other matters.

Firstly, he stayed in his post pending the laptop inquiry even though the council, of which he was leader, had previously sent home 20 or so staff pending investigations into the circulation of a Viagra email joke. Secondly, as the leader of the Tory group he had to review the alleged behaviour of other councillors when he himself was still the subject of that inquiry by the standards board. Thirdly, as leader, he had to take the flak.

We shouldn’t forget, however, that Cllr MacLoughlin, who remains a councillor, has shown courage, dynamism and astuteness in the past. And he has done the decent thing.

Another onetime favourite was that Englebert Humperdinck song that also began “I wondered should I stay or should I go?”

The wondering’s now over. He’s gone.

But I wouldn’t bet on these shenanigans marking the last waltz of his political career.