Excerpt:
Solihull council’s leader has refused to rule out accepting a councillor embroiled in a racism row back into the ruling Conservative group – after he was welcomed back into the party nationally.
Knowle councillor Jeff Potts was suspended from the group last September after a probe was launched into his re-tweeting of ‘offensive’ anti-Muslim tweets.
Following the internal investigation, he was banned from holding his previous committee post, ordered to attend diversity training and reprimanded by a conduct panel.
The former teacher was also suspended from the national Conservative party, and forced to become an independent councillor outside the ruling Tory group.