Tameside chief executive quits ahead of meeting over Tory tweet

Steven Pleasant MBE has stood down with "immediate effect"

A long-serving council chief executive has resigned ahead of a meeting to discuss a post he published on Twitter about the Tories.

Steven Pleasant MBE said he was stepping down from the role at Tameside Council with "immediate effect".

It comes after Mr Pleasant posted the tweet before the local elections from his official work Twitter account.

His resignation precedes an extraordinary full council meeting, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Mr Pleasant was responding to comments made by a Conservative voter on BBC's Question Time, where a clip from the TV programme showed an audience member who voted for the Tories telling minister Damian Hinds his government was a "disappointment".

Mr Pleasant, who has held the role since 2009, replied to the video in a now deleted tweet saying: "She was good. Tory voter with compassion and empathy for others. Who knew!"

'Not considered'

He later apologised and said the comment was "not considered" and he "should have worded any sentiments very differently".

As part of his role as chief executive, Mr Pleasant was also the council's returning officer, and subsequently went on to run the local elections on 5 May despite anger from Tameside's Tory group about the comment.

A report about the tweet by the council's monitoring officer was due to be presented at the extraordinary full council meeting on 14 June.

The meeting will also discuss a scathing report from Ofsted about the council's children's services department.

In a letter to councillors, MPs and council staff, Mr Pleasant said it had been "a privilege" to serve as chief executive and cited "many achievements" such as the authority being voted council of the year and the NHS Tameside and Glossop Clinical Commissioning Group being rated "outstanding".

Labour council leader Gerald Cooney said Mr Pleasant had been a "great servant of Tameside and the local NHS".

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