THE council chamber at the Civic Centre is set for a fierce political battle this evening as Richard Williams prepares to fight to save his political career.

The council’s Conservative opposition tabled a vote of no confidence in him in the wake of the publication of the report last week.

The final report, which cost £7,000 of public money and took five months to put together, was released last week.

It found that Cllr Williams had failed to comply with the Nolan Principles of Public Life relating to openness, honesty and leadership, while Cllr Morrell and Labour deputy leader Jacqui Rayment had failed to comply with the guidelines relating to openness and honesty.

Cllr Morrell, who had only taken up his post as Cabinet member for efficiency and improvement two weeks before after Labour won the council election, was actually in perfect health and had resigned due to policy differences.

But Cllr Morrell later admitted that the “ill health” story was a “fiction” put together by Cllr Williams in a bid to avoid political embarrassment.

Almost immediately after the press release was sent out on May 22, the story started to unravel, with concerned friends and family members phoning Cllr Morrell.

He then admitted to the Echo the next day the real reasons behind his resignation.