Gus Hoyt quits cabinet after four-letter rant

Gus Hoyt has resigned from the cabinet at Bristol City Council after his four-letter-word attack on a member of the public.

In a statement released this afternoon, the Green Party councillor said he apologised to “all I have offended” and gave it as the reason for his decision to step down.

Councillor Daniella Radice will replace Cllr Hoyt in the cabinet and while councillor Charlie Bolton replaces her as the leader of Bristol Green Party’s Council Group.

Cllr Hoyt swore in a text message to Steve Glover, who runs the urban farm initiative The Severn Project out of farms in Temple Gate and Whitchurch.

Glover hit out at the assistant mayor – the Green Party’s sole representative on George Ferguson’s cabinet – in Bristol24/7 this morning for allegedly swearing at him and “failing to support” a bid for Green Capital funding.

In the series of text messages, Glover said Cllr Hoyt told him to “f**k off” and go and “court the Lib Dems” when asked if there had been any progress securing additional land to expand the project.

In the statement released by the Green Party this afternoon, Cllr Hoyt said: “It has been an absolute honour serving the city as a cabinet member for the last two years. A few weeks ago, I swore at a member of the public in a private message. I should never have done this. My apologies to all I have offended. I am stepping down from the mayor’s cabinet as a result.”

Cllr Bolton thanked Hoyt for his “major contribution to Bristol’s environment”.

“As the first Green cabinet member in Bristol he has worked to champion the city as a centre of environmental excellence, and make life better for the people of Bristol,” he said.

Cllr Hoyt was coming under increasing pressure following the revelation of the text messages on Friday.

Green Party members were furious with Cllr Hoyt’s conduct and were openly discussing his future on Friday.

Bristol24/7 understands that Cllr Hoyt is not prepared to speak in the short term other to “say sorry once again” according to a Green Party source, but may speak more about the circumstances surrounding the conversation with Glover in the future.

Liberal Democrat councillor Tim Kent said Hoyt had “shown his true colours” and had officially written to mayor Ferguson to raise his concerns about the language used.

“Councillor Hoyt seems to be blissfully unaware that as an Assistant Mayor he is in a position of responsibility for promoting respectable behaviour. He used rude and offensive language. You cannot talk to a member of the public in this way,” he said.

“The Severn Project is doing many good things for the Green Capital and for the people of Whitchurch Park in my ward and yet Cllr Hoyt has launched this unwarranted attack. I do not understand why they have received such abuse.

“The word he used was out of order and is contrary to the Councillors’ Code of Conduct. He has shown his true colours today. He should apologise immediately and explain why he thinks such language is acceptable.”

This is the second scandal to have engulfed Cllr Hoyt this year. In May he was embroiled in a row over his purchase of a former council house in his Ashley ward, in which he was forced to deny he used his position as a councillor to gain an advantage in bidding for the property.