Babergh's Conservative group of councillors, including Hadleigh's Mick Fraser and Sian Dawson, were absent at yesterday evening's full council meeting.

This comes after a motion to oust vice chairman Cllr Derek Davis from his position earlier this month was lost by 16 votes to seven.

Cllr John Ward, leader of the council and part of the separate group of Independent Conservatives, said: "It is incredibly disappointing that the group has decided to boycott the meeting.

"It is not good for democracy and does their residents a dis-service.

"To use a phrase that Simon Barrett uses very often, it is not a good look."

Babergh leader John Ward

Liberal Democrat councillor Bryn Hurren said the move by the Conservative group represented "shame on our democracy".

Cllr Simon Barrett, a member of the Conservative group, put forward the motion on the basis of a Facebook post shared by Cllr Davis that referred to Conservatives as "b*stards".

Speaking as leader of the Conservative group, Cllr Simon Barrett said: "We are probably not going to turn up to a meeting until Derek Davis resigns.

"He called us 'Tory b*stards' so we're going to be looking for our fathers.

"In the meantime, we're doing all our ward work and looking after our electorate."

Cllr Mick Fraser failed to attend full council - again

The Independent Conservatives separated from the Conservative group in April.

This was due to Cllr Davis' removal from the cabinet, which he said was a result of pressure put on Cllr Ward to do so from Cllrs Simon Barrett and Sian Dawson, who were unhappy with his role as journalist.

Both councillors Dawson and Fraser also missed the previous full council meeting on October 6.

The Conservative group includes Cllrs Susan Maria Ayres, Melanie Barrett, Simon Barrett, Peter Beer, Michael Holt, Margaret Maybury, Mark Newman, Zachary Norman.

The group of Independent Conservatives consists of Cllrs Mary McLaren, Adrian Osborne, Jan Osborne and John Ward.

Tories fail to oust vice-chairman