LABOUR city councillor Bill Stevens has been ordered to make a public apology to a Conservative Cabinet member for a slur he published on the internet, writes Keith Rossiter.

Mr Stevens, left, a councillor for Devonport, wrote an article in which he falsely suggested that Cabinet member Steve Ricketts was 'closely linked' to a former Conservative activist who went to a fancy-dress party dressed as missing toddler Madeleine McCann.

The article, described as 'scurrilous' by solicitor Peter Keith-Lucas, representing the council at a standards committee hearing yesterday, was carried on the Plymouth Labour Party website.

By last night the Labour Party had still not removed the article from its website.

"This is an attempt to throw mud and smear Cllr Ricketts," Mr Keith-Lucas said.

The incident arose from a 2008 New Year's Eve party attended by Matt Lewis, from Staffordshire. Mr Lewis and two other officials of Conservative Future, the youth wing of the Tory Party, were expelled after the incident was brought to light. Conservative Central Office said there was 'no place for this sort of person in the party.'

The men had already been expelled from the party by the time Mr Stevens's article appeared on the internet, on January 15, 2009, under the headline: "Plymouth Tory Cabinet linked to Madeleine McCann fancy dress outrage."

Mr Keith-Lucas said the only evidence for a connection between Mr Ricketts, the councillor for Drake ward, and Mr Lewis was that a year earlier both men had campaigned for a position on the Conservative Future management executive. Mr Ricketts was elected but Mr Lewis failed to secure a seat.

Francis Randall, for Mr Stevens, told the standards committee that Mr Lewis was listed as Mr Ricketts's 'friend' on the social networking website Facebook.

She said Mr Lewis had sent Mr Ricketts messages, including one wishing him a happy birthday. She admitted there was no evidence Mr Ricketts had replied.

Mr Keith-Lucas said: "No evidence has been put forward that they were friends." He said friends on Facebook were not the same thing as real friends and the article was 'just mud-throwing and innuendo. By knowingly making false allegations, Bill Stevens damages his reputation as a councillor. Next time he makes an allegation, who will believe him?'

Ms Randall said: "One article isn't a smear campaign." She denied that it contained any innuendo, saying: "It's not mud-slinging; it's stating the facts."

Mr Keith-Lucas said that on the hustings during the campaign for election to the Conservative Future management committee, Mr Ricketts had said: "We are the future of the country; let us get together and make a difference", but there was no suggestion that they were 'a dynamic duo.'

"Bill Stevens clearly and deliberately implies that Cllr Ricketts was referring to Mr Lewis when he said, 'We are the future'," he said.

However, Mr Keith-Lucas said the remark was intended to refer to the whole 80,000-member Conservative Future.

"Mr Stevens invites readers to infer that Cllr Ricketts was endorsing Mr Lewis. There is no evidence of any contact between Mr Ricketts and Mr Lewis after the fancy dress party," he said.

Ms Randall said the article was not connected with Mr Stevens's work as a city councillor and was not therefore covered by the council's Code of Conduct, which all councillors are obliged to sign.

She said it was 'part of the rough and tumble of political life.'

The committee, of two Labour and two Conservative councillors, with an independent chairman, disagreed.

They said Mr Stevens had called for Mr Ricketts's resignation as a councillor and had clearly identified himself as a councillor and the Labour group's spokesman on governance issues.

They found him guilty of failing to show respect but cleared him of allegations that he had brought the office of councillor or the authority itself into disrepute.

The committee decided not to use its powers to suspend Mr Stevens from the council, but ordered him to write a public apology within 10 days. If he fails to comply the committee can consider further sanctions.

Mr Ricketts said later: "This is not adequate. What he put on that website was disgusting. He was trying to link me with one of the most despicable things you can think of.

"I have completely lost faith in the standards committee. We wanted to clean up politics."

Mr Stevens said later that he would write a letter of apology to Mr Ricketts.

"I'm happy to accept their decision today," he said. "I hope that, having had this hanging over my head for a year, I am able to draw a line under it."