THE politician who was sacked for using his casting vote to throw out Donald Trump's plans for a £1 billion golf resort faces expulsion from Aberdeenshire Council's ruling Liberal Democrat group.
In January, Martin Ford accused his fellow Lib Dem councillors of mounting a witch-hunt against him after he was removed as chairman of the authority's main planning committee and later stripped of the joint chairmanship of the North-east's main str
ategic planning organisation.
Mr Ford claimed he was being treated like the "victim of a political purge in a totalitarian regime" and e-mailed all 24 fellow Lib Dem councillors, accusing group leader Anne Robertson of bringing the party into disrepute by the way he had been treated.
He also declared he had "no trust or confidence" left in the leadership of the group.
Now, Mr Ford will face a motion to expel him from the group at a meeting on Monday.
Paul Johnston, one of the Lib Dem councillors who backed the move to refuse the Trump application, said the motion, calling for Mr Ford's exclusion, had been tabled by Isobel Davidson, who chairs the local Gordon branch.
He said: "Should they be taking action against Martin to exclude him from the administration on the basis of a planning application, it is both foolish and very possibly improper. "
Mr Ford said: "On a day-to-day basis I do not know what is going to be done to me next."
Mrs Davidson could not be contacted last night.
The full article contains 259 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
