HAVING read Cllr Borthwick’s reasons for crossing the floor to the Tories in the Echo (May 31) I am somewhat astonished.

He has actually sent this letter to several of the residents in Throop and Muscliff who are very angry with his betrayal and misuse of their vote and confidence in him in the recent local elections.

Cllr Ron Whittaker and I have been stabbed in the back and carried this man to a victory as an Independent. He knew he wouldn’t have won as a Tory in our ward.

He, as I’ve reported before, told me on the May 9, three days after the election, that he was in a “quandary” and that he was well respected by the Tories and that he couldn’t work under Ben Grower as an opposition leader!

We don’t have an opposition leader. That’s for the House of Commons.

I repeat again I am a Lib Dem at General Elections and an Independent at local level, which, again, Cllr Borthwick knew. I canvassed with this man for over four hours the day before the election and there he was asking people to support us three Independent candidates in Throop and Muscliff.

I know that there are many angry residents in our ward and beyond who wish for Cllr Borthwick to do the honourable thing and resign and stand as a Tory in Throop and Muscliff. I set the challenge to him.

CLLR ANNE REY, Leader of the Independents, Setley Gardens, Bournemouth