General Enquiries

Hello all

Forgive me I am very rusty. At Richmond our Mayor's have worked quite closely with their deputies and have attended several events together wearing their chains.

At Wandsworth this has never happened and the Mayor has asked if his Deputy can assist him with presenting Civic Awards.

My query is - do collegues allow their Mayor and Deputy to attend events together wearing their chains?

Thank you

Hi Michelle - we had a similar query between the Executive a couple of weeks ago, and the response was varied. I am sure colleagues may correct me, however, as I understand there is no strict protocol on this, outside of the fact that the Deputy Mayor is not a statutory post and is there by virtue of local procedure. It may cause confusion to those attending the event as to who is Mayor and who is Deputy, unless their robes are different. In my borough, we would not bring the two together at the same event, we would have the Mayor and the Deputy present but in capacity of Councillor. Others may make you aware of more pros and cons to this situation.

I agree with Tracy - the Deputy is there to deputise for the Lord Mayor/Mayor/Chairman when they arent available. The only times we will let both go, is for own events where we need the Deputy Lord Mayor to do a specific role ie do a reading for a service or help the Lord Mayor host because an event is spread over two locations. So at Exeter, we wouldnt send the Deputy to events with our Lord Mayor.

But to answer your question if our Lord Mayor wanted them to assist with our Lord Mayor's Commendation Awards/Civic Awards we would probably allow it as it is a CIVIC Event but we would just have the Lord Mayor robed and not robe up the Deputy who would wear their day chains (we have two chains in Exeter for the Lord Mayor and Deputy - day chain and chain of office)

Unfortunately there isnt a straight answer - but what ever your authority decide you need to stick with it - if you do it for one Lord Mayor and not another - you may get some back lash - we know this from personal experience