Coun James Alexander hits back over ‘personal attack’ on website and wages

Coun James Alexander received £200 to tide him over following a request to City of York Council chief executive Kersten England, after revealing on Facebook he had “maxed out” his overdrafts and “spent his last tenner”.

He has also been criticised for asking council officers to create an account on photo-sharing site Flickr containing pictures of himself, other councillors and an “Under New Management” sign the Labour group placed outside the Guildhall when it took council control. Coun Alexander, whose current salary of just over £18,000 will rise to £30,000 when he receives his first pay packet as leader, described the “personal attack” on his finances as “playing the man, not the ball” and said the Flickr site would publicise the council’s work.

Liberal Democrat leader Carol Runciman said the advance cast doubt on whether Coun Alexander was “capable of overseeing the council’s budgets when he can’t seem to manage his own finances”, while Conservative leader Ian Gillies said: “One has to question his financial competence.”

Coun Runciman said: “I cannot see how residents will benefit from council officers spending time putting pictures of James Alexander on the internet at a time when services are under pressure.”

Responding to the criticism of his finances, Coun Alexander said: “I have never hidden that I am not wealthy and am very surprised at this personal attack.

“What I asked for and received are the wages I was owed between becoming council leader and payday. Like many residents, if I don’t receive wages for work I do, I struggle.”

On the Flickr site, Coun Alexander said: “The council is using an online photobank for £25 a year to show some of the good work it does while using social media to communicate with a new generation of residents.

“I invited other parties to include photographs, but the Lib Dems declined. Coun Runciman is really showing how her group is out of touch with the modern world.”