But when one councillor used the blunt rhetorical device at a meeting, his colleagues tried to make him feel guilty for saying it. Paul Kendrick, the lord mayor of Norwich, was presiding over a City Hall meeting at which the Greens became frustrated that they were not getting straight answers from their Labour opponents. But Mr Kendrick said the Greens could not demand a direct response, saying: "It is like asking someone, 'have you stopped beating your wife?'" But Lucy Galvin, leader of the Green group at City Hall, said it was a "strange comment regarding domestic violence". Mr Kendrick gave a terse response and said he "completely refuted any insinuations".