UPDATED:

A video clip has emerged of the moment Hadleigh mayor Frank Minns was called a 'fool' by a fellow councillor as meeting descended into disarray. See YouTube above or link here... Tonight's Hadleigh town council was brought to an abrupt end after it had earlier been suspended to allow elected members time to cool down after the mayor was branded a 'fool' by fellow councillor. An exasperated councillor Andrew Knock had said councillor Frank Minns, who was chairing the meeting had got Hadleigh into this mess and called him a fool. Cllr Minns demanded he retract the comment but Cllr Knock refused. A bid by Cllr Minns to have Cllr Knock officially silenced in the meeting failed after he could not get a seconder to his proposal and the chair closed the meeting early, after expressing his disappointment at not receiving the support of the rest of the council. The exchange took place during a discussion about whether the press and public should be excluded from the meeting while two items, to review legal process and to consider the case for legal proceedings, were discussed. More confidential matters regarding the hiring of a new member of staff were also due to be discussed with some councillors arguing they should not be held in secret. It was the second town council meeting in a row that has been suspended due to a disagreement among councillors, and once again the issue it was about how and why a legal letter was sent to a resident who had expressed concerns over the way the Christmas trees had been erected in Hadleigh. Cllrs Minns and Knock had clashed earlier in the meeting when the chair refused to allow Cllr Knock to glean information from member of the public about accusations of Cllr Minns behaviour over the process involving town council manager Cheryl Tye and bullying allegation. There had been calls by members of the public for Cllr Minns to resign after more Hadleigh Together councillors had quit and contents of emails were revealed over the legal letter. Full story on the accusations in Nub News tomorrow.