FORMER leader of Warrington Borough Council Russ Bowden has responded to “childish games” of Independent Cllr Neil Johnson after being called out over an “incendiary” tweet referring to the recent Best Value inspection report into the council as “Utter b****cks.”
Cllr. Johnson has expressed his shock at an “incendiary” tweet by former Council Leader, stating that it casts serious doubts on Labour’s commitment to take the recent Best Value Inspection Report into Warrington Borough Council seriously.
On 9th July at 22.11, former Council Leader Russ Bowden tweeted the following:
“There is only one problem with the BVI report on @WarringtonBC – it is utter bollocks. A spiteful Tory endgame facilitated by this Labour Government & @JimfromOldham”
(@JimfromOldham is Jim McMahon, a Labour MP and Minister of State for Local Government and English Devolution.)
Cllr Johnson said:”I was gobsmacked when I was first shown this tweet by a local resident. It is incendiary. Through this tweet, Mr Bowden is dismissing the findings of the Best Value Inspection Report into Warrington Borough Council and making claims that the report is an act of political conspiracy enacted by the previous Government, facilitated by the current Labour administration and a Labour Minister.
“It throws Labour’s commitments to taking the report and its findings seriously into doubt. I have always said that Labour councillors underestimate the seriousness of this report. Now we have a former Leader branding it “total bollocks” on social media.
“The Labour Group need to make it clear where they stand on this. This is a direct attack on their own Government and one of their senior Ministers by their former Leader.
“I challenge them to make clear whether they share Mr Bowden’s view on the report, or whether they disassociate themselves completely and absolutely from these remarks and the suggestion that a political conspiracy is being enacted by rival parties and supported by Jim McMahon MP. They cannot lapse into silence on this, it is too serious for the people of Warrington.”
“Nor can the ridiculous situation of their former Leader parroting from the sidelines cannot continue. Where do they stand – in line with his comments or against them? It’s time we knew.”
In response Mr Bowden said: “Cllr Johnson and his well-known ghostwriter have put a lot of their own creative and malicious meaning onto my two short sentences.
“If Cllr Johnson had been awake since last May, he would know that I am not a councillor and represent neither the administration nor the Labour Party. He clearly thinks that members of the public should not be able to express their own opinions.
“Unlike Cllr Johnson, I wish the council and the people of Warrington nothing but success.
“I will not be taking any lecturing from an individual elected as a Labour councillor on the back of the party’s hardworking volunteers, who quickly resigned from the party but didn’t have the courage to seek his own mandate through a by-election. It really is high time that he grew up and got on with the job instead of playing childish games.”
There is only one problem with the BVI report on @WarringtonBC – it is utter bollocks. A spiteful Tory endgame facilitated by this Labour Government & @JimfromOldham
— Russ Bowden (@MrRussBowden) July 9, 2025
3 Comments
Feel sorry for anyone that has had to work with Bowden. He’s cringe
I’m sure I’ve read a similar style of writing in a book called something about a tower but I can’t put my finger on it. Not saying I’ve actually read the book mind. I’d probably be in a small minority if I had.
To quote Many Rice Davies “He would say that wouldn’t he?”