I refer in particular to failed local election and Independent candidate Roger Hughes, who the vast majority of the public clearly do not want to listen to or know of his opinions and views about anything at all, judging by the number of votes he got in Ravensthorpe in May this year – 228 compared with Cllr Gul Nawaz's 855 – a clear majority indeed.

"How can he hold office" Mr Hughes asks? Simple really, he was elected by the people and beat you hands down.

I would add it is all very well the likes of Mr Hughes and others standing from the sidelines hurling abuse and decrying the selection of Cllr Gul Nawaz as deputy mayor for our city but it is a very unfair picture that has been painted of this popular hard working councillor.

So let me offer a slightly different perspective of matters here that reinforce the Conservative group's decision to select him and should leave those bitter and uncharitable people hanging their heads in shame. And I include some individuals from this very newspaper in that list who have reported on this matter for so-called "public interest", which as any intelligent person knows is utter nonsense as in reality we all know that sensationalist headlines sell papers.

We, on the whole, live in a Christian society and how Christian would it be for us not to forgive this man or to take a "holier than thou" attitude to a clearly penitent individual who has made a mistake and already been duly and appropriately punished for it. No one has spoken to defend his past actions or to justify them including Cllr Nawaz himself and we, the Conservative group, still chose to select him as it was his turn based on being "next in line" according to service and seniority and this decision was still taken despite the fact that we knew we would attract some bad publicity for our act of kindness and fairness to all.

We even sought advice on the matter from the Dean of Peterborough Cathedral the Very Reverend Charles Taylor to confirm that indeed forgiveness was the Christian thing to do and we should not forever look to persecute a man who has said sorry on more than one occasion, is remorseful for his previous error in judgement and has made full recompense, both in financial terms and continues to do so through all the good work he does for his Ravensthorpe and Westwood residents.

Let me say to Mr Hughes and to all those others who wish to continue to question our decision or criticise us for it. As it says in the Bible "Judge not lest ye be judged and let he who is without sin cast the first stone". I do not think there will many takers in our modern society – particularly Mr Hughes? In closing I would ask all readers Christian or otherwise to remember: To err is human; to forgive is divine.

Cllr Wayne Fitzgerald
Press Officer, Conservative Group – Peterborough City Council

EDITOR'S COMMENT: We simply put the facts before our readers, which was the right thing to do. If those responsible for the selection of councillor Nawaz were confident about his candidacy why did they seek to stop us running the story? Would it not have been better to have come out with these comments then, instead of creating a media storm by seeking to suppress the news? All that said, we are happy to give councillor Fitzgerald his say, and reiterate that we have never sought to judge councillor Nawaz's suitability, that is for the public and his colleagues to do.