Leader of Boston Borough Council ousted at tense meeting

Coun Anne Dorrian led the Boston Independent administration since 2023, but members have now replaced her with the former deputy leader Coun Dale Broughton.

Coun Dorrian gave a passionate speech accusing defectors of ‘ambition and treachery’ in a tense full council meeting on Monday evening (July 21).

A motion claimed that she had lost the support of her party, with 14 out of 17 resigning in the run-up to the meeting, and that her position had become untenable.

“Those I trusted have chosen to destroy what we built together,” she told the meeting.

“I wasn’t brought down by voters – it was a group who chose betrayal over bravery, and cowardice over conversation.”

Coun Dorrian went on to call defectors ‘selfish beyond measure’, saying they had chosen to ‘burn the party to the ground’ rather than allow her to resign.

She also claimed that former cabinet members had been told they would only keep their positions if they defected to the new group, which the opposition denied.

Coun Emma Creswell – one of three remaining Boston Independent members – said the motion was based on ‘inaccurate, unsubstantiated hearsay and lies’.

Coun Dale Broughton responded simply by saying: “Fourteen out of the 17 people who resigned cannot be wrong.”

The leader was removed by 21 votes to three, with four members abstaining.

The split was described as a ‘domestic issue for the Boston Independent group' by Coun Mike Gilbert, who is part of the 20-20 Independent Group political grouping.

“I have been asked to take a place in the administration with no financial inducements, and I am optimistic for the future under Dale Broughton,” he said.

Coun Dorrian becomes the second Lincolnshire leader this month to fall, with West Lindsey’s Trevor Young also being removed by his former colleagues recently.