Published: Friday, 12th March, 2010 1:30pm

Silence broken over YouTube scandal which rocked borough

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Council leader David Burbage has finally stepped from behind a wall of silence to reassure residents after revelations of a conspiracy led to the resignation of a high profile political adviser.

The move comes after all 36 Tory councillors were ordered to remain silent following the publication on YouTube of a secretly taped phone conversation.

It featured a Royal Borough employee Andre Walker allegedly conspiring to oust the deputy leader Cllr Alison Knight, exclusively revealed by the Observer on Friday last week.

All Conservative councillors were contacted by the newspaper on Tuesday posing questions about the scandalous remarks made and Mr Walker's resignation as a political assistant. The paper received just one response, from Cllr Knight herself.

Cllr Burbage told the Observer on Wednesday afternoon: "I do have full confidence in Alison as my deputy and the team delivering great services for the residents. I fully deprecate the manner in which Mr Walker was behaving and accepted his resignation personally.

"I have had a number of conversations with my colleagues and would like to move on and carry on delivering great services for residents.

"If anyone has a complaint to make there is a process in place to value that. The code of conduct is there for a reason and if someone has a complaint to make against anyone they should refer it to the standards committee."

The story unfolded when Mr Walker's picture, an audio and transcript were posted by an outraged resident who overheard a phone conversation taking place on a late-night train to Windsor. The passenger known only as 'Robert Bobbin' says he was so disgusted by what he heard that he decided to record the conversation.