Seven trustees of Shetland Charitable Trust have signed a strongly worded open letter condemning their own vice chairman for publicly attacking the chairman.
In an unusual step, the trustees went public to defend the integrity of the chairman while accusing Jonathan Wills of displaying “lamentable contempt” for trust members.
Dr Wills, who strongly believes the trust should have a majority of directly elected trustees, dismissed the criticism and said he would take it as a compliment.
Last week he took aim at chairman Bobby Hunter, suggesting it was “deplorable” that the lord lieutenant of Shetland “did not remain impartial” in discussions over the direction of the £230million trust and brought “the monarchy into politics”.
In June, the local authority said it no longer wished to provide councillors to sit on the board.
Vice-chairman Dr Wills was reported as saying that Mr Hunter “became partisan for that policy of having an undemocratic trust” – an accusation the chairman said he “completely refuted”.
The letter denied he was appointed to the trust because of his role as lord lieutenant, while they also said he was “strictly impartial” during discussions into the future of the trust.