Chiswick Councillors were left flabbergasted after Council Leader Shantanu Rajawat referred to the part of the borough as a "backwater" during a council meeting. 

Councillors Joanna Biddolph, Chiswick Gunnersbury, and Jack Emsley, Chiswick Homefields, have both taken to Twitter to register their shock after Rajawat called Chiswick a "backwater" during a council meeting. 

Hounslow Council were meeting to discuss the budget for 2023/24 and during it Rajawat was disparaging about that part of the borough. 

He said during the meeting: "Thank you mister Mayor, I am so incredibly proud of the Labour side. Tonight, we have shown why we are the administration and you are consigned to the backwaters of Chiswick." 

Despite Hounslow Council being Labour-controlled, eight out of the nine councillors elected in the three Chiswick wards are Conservative, only two other councillors are from the Conservative Party. 

Emsley said: "I'm slightly biased, but I think Chiswick is the best place in London. It was so disappointing to hear the Hounslow Labour leader call it a "backwater" during yesterday's council meeting - happy to take you round and show you why you're wrong any time, Shantanu Rajawat!" 

And Biddoplh added: "If anyone in Chiswick is in doubt about the high regard Hounslow Council and its leader Cllr Shantanu Rajawat have for this part of the borough, here's all you need to know:"