The Labour group in Sutton has been ordered to hand over the address of a website which lampooned rival Liberal Democrat councillors.
Visitors to suttonlibdems.org.uk may have expected to trawl through glowing testimonials to the work of the ruling group.
Instead they were treated to anti-Lib Dem propaganda which bemoaned “mismanagement” of the £30 waste charge and the emergence of ghost towns.
The cyber-spat was finally ended last week when Nominet, the UK internet domain authority, ordered the web address to be transferred.
Council leader Sean Brennan told the Sutton Guardian: “I welcome the decision because, although debate is part of a healthy democracy, such deceit can only give politics a bad reputation.”
Richard Collier, a former Labour candidate in the borough council elections, admitted setting up suttonlibdems.org.uk on a recent weblog.
He appeared less than contrite when it attracted a wider audience, having featured on a Labour election pamphlet last May.
He wrote: “I think it is quite funny that the Lib Dems have only just noticed my website, as it has been up and unaltered since late 2001 or early 2002. In fact, I must get round to updating it.”
In the brief judgement, Nominet expert Bob Elliott ruled: “The complainant has shown that the domain name suttonlibdems.org.uk is an abusive registration.”
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