THE Labour group on West Somerset District Council was this week split by a bitter internal row over the appointment of Cllr Simon Stokes to the authority's cabinet.

It followed group leader Cllr Eddie May's shock resignation from the council last week.

The four remaining Labour councillors were evenly divided on whether or not the group should continue to co-operate with cabinet-style rule.

Cllr Stokes then accepted an invitation from Conservative council leader Cllr Steven Pugsley to succeed Cllr May on the nine-member cabinet.

He told the Free Press yesterday (Thursday) the decision was based on his understanding that Cllrs David Banks and Keith Turpin had withdrawn from the group.

Cllr Stokes said he discussed the issue fully with the fourth group member, Cllr Ivor Gibbons, and they agreed whoever was invited to enter cabinet would accept.

He also spoke at length with officers of the Minehead and Alcombe branch of the party, to which he belonged.

The issue of appointing a formal group leader had not yet been decided.

Cllr Stokes said Cllr Banks and Turpin had made it quite clear they would quit the group if it continued to work with the cabinet.

"I feel it is better to be pro-active on council than just to sit at the back and have no influence whatsoever," said Cllr Stokes.

"This is not a cabinet as in central Government where they have collective responsibility.

"If I disagree with something in cabinet, I may have to accept I have been voted down, but it does not stop me saying to anybody why I disagree.

"If we are not in cabinet, we are not going to know anything. Whether we go on cabinet or not, the Tories are still going to have power.

"We might as well be in cabinet so we can see and hear what is going on.

"I have a high opinion of David Banks. I think he is a very intelligent man and very principled. The fact I do not agree with him all the time does not mean we have to fall out.

"He is more experienced as a councillor than I am and he is a great deal more informed at the moment, although I hope to catch him up.

"If I thought David Banks would go on the cabinet and stay there, I would have supported him."

Cllr Stokes accepted he did not consult Cllrs Banks or Turpin, because he felt they had left the group and he knew anyway of their strong objections.

He said: "I stood in the ward and was elected, unlike Keith, who stood unopposed.

"I said to the electorate on the doorsteps I was keen to try to make it work. I accepted there were problems with the council and I would go in and shout and attend meetings and try to make it work.

"If I refuse to join cabinet, I am not being true to my electorate when I said I would try to have maximum impact."

Cllr Turpin, chairman of Labour's Watchet and Williton branch, yesterday denied quitting the council group, although the option was under consideration.

He said Labour agreed to look at the issue of cabinet working after six months and such a review was now due.

"We have given them six months and in no way were we satisfied with the results we were getting," he said.

Cllr Turpin said it was a complete shock to hear Cllr Stokes had effectively accepted that Conservatives could dictate who should represent Labour in cabinet.

"If we want to nominate somebody for the cabinet, we are more than capable of doing it, and we would not have nominated him," he said.

"If he wants to do the job, and he obviously does from his own ego point of view, then why not do it the proper way and meet all of us as a group and discuss it."

Cllr Banks also denied leaving the group, and put the decision of Cllr Stokes down to "inexperience and naivety or naked political ambition".

He said the cabinet place for Cllr Stokes was a politically-loaded offer which caused an unnecessary schism within Labour.

Cllr Banks said Labour councillors needed to be working together and monitoring the effects of Tory rule rather than falling out among themselves.