Mayor hits back at ‘trolls’ who criticised dress sense

THE Mayor of Henley has defended his dress sense saying that “people’s preconceptions need to be challenged”.

Tom Buckley came under fire last month when he chose to wear a floral shirt, shorts and no socks to a parade of the Royal Marine, army and air cadets.

About a dozen residents wrote to the Henley Standard criticising Councillor Buckley for not wearing more suitable attire.

At an informal event at the town hall on Monday for the cadet units Cllr Buckley said commentators were “behind the times” and that he would not “allow the role to shape me”.

He said: “There is a decision and a choice to dress the way that you see fit. Certain people will have views on what should be done.

“I would just ask, ‘what do those people actually do for their communities?’ If they give back, that’s fine. Everybody’s got to a right to an opinion. However, they’re not the ones doing this.

“At the end of my tenure as mayor, I’m sure there’ll be some people who look back and say I didn’t do a good job.

“But, at the end of the day, most of those people who were writing in would never have voted for me and don’t actually live in Henley.”

Cllr Buckley said his outfit for the evening — a floral shirt, shorts and trainers — was his response to his critics.

He said: “Writing letters into papers and commenting is a very English way of making your views known. These days it’s called trolling on social media. I’m here to help the people of Henley and what I wear when I do that is entirely up to me.

“I’ve worked in retail IT for 25 years. I’ve worked under people who will be managing multi-billion pound companies and at no point have I been told I’d do a better job if I’m wearing a tie.

“People’s preconceptions need to be challenged. They’re behind the times.

“I’m not here to pretend to be something I’m not. When you become a servant to the Henley people, you can’t just allow the role to shape you. You have to shape the role on yourself. And somebody said to me, ‘you wear the [mayoral] chains or the chains are going to wear you’ — and I refuse to let the chains wear me.”

Mr Buckley was elected Mayor by Henley Town Council in April, having lived in the riverside town for eight years.

“Henley’s fantastic,” he said. “The people of Henley have made me welcome, made me and my wife welcome from the start. I relish that I’m being given the opportunity to [be the town’s Mayor].”

More than 20 people, including a dozen young Armed Forces personnel and their families, attended the evening event, which was an opportunity to recognise the three cadets to the Mayor.

They were Royal Marine cadet Monty Ward, air cadet Raphie Barron and army cadet Kiara De Sousa. Monty replaced cadet Joe Whitlock who has stepped back from the role.

The role will see them accompany Cllr Buckley at ceremonial events in and around the town, such as at Remembrance Sunday.

Kiara, 16, from Sonning Common, said: “I am looking forward to putting myself out there to represent Henley. This is a new experience and, having seen the previous Mayor’s cadet from army cadets do it, I was really inspired.”

Monty, 16, said: “I’m privileged to be in the role. I’m proud to represent my unit, my service, and give more awareness to the cadets.”

Monty, who said his father had served in the Royal Marines, has been with the cadets for three years during which time he said he made lasting friendships.

Youngest of this year’s inductees air cadet Raphie Barron, 15, who hopes to join the RAF, said: “There’s two different sides to cadets, and both of them I love. I went on camp and that was amazing, going to see all these museums and airshows and things like that. That’s just amazing. But then also, the other side is meeting new people, making new friends.”

Cllr Buckley said: “Joining the cadets is one of the best things you can do as a youth.

“There’s a bit of structure, there’s a bit of training combined with physical fitness and also the emphasis on the community — you couldn’t really ask for much more than that.”

Guests also heard a speech from former British Army chief of staff in Baghdad, now the Mayor of Malmesbury, Cllr Stephen James.

He recounted stories from his service with the Armed Forces, which included as a gun battery officer working in a UN detachment in Sarajevo during the Bosnia-Serbia crisis.

Cllr James told the cadets the most important value he had learned from his service was “teamwork”.