It was a welcome break in the sun for the council chief executive from the misery of budget cuts.

But when Sandwell Council boss Jan Britton used his taxpayer funded website to share his “amazing” winter holiday in Morocco it left a taste more bitter than the unusual delicacies he had enjoyed.

Up to 800 posts are set to be axed at Sandwell Council over the next few years as it grapples with massive budget cuts including £31m of savings it has to make in 2011/12.

Interim chief executive Jan Britton, who earns £139,000-a-year, used the internal Sandwell Council blog, set up to keep staff informed about council business, to talk about his exotic holiday in Marrakech last week.

Temperatures in Morocco at the moment are approaching 80F – a far cry from the cold and damp winter in the West Midlands.

But it wasn’t all fun – Mr Britton revealed he picked up the Moroccan equivalent of “Delhi belly” when he got an upset stomach from the food.

The blog costs taxpayers £4,000 a year to run on top of set up costs of £4,610 and is read by at least 2,000 people a day.

In the posting Mr Britton said: “Marrakech was fantastic – a real cultural mix of Arabia, French colonialism and Africa.”

He talks about the excitement of crossing the Atlas Mountains on to the edge of the Sahara Desert, adding: “It was amazing!”

Mr Britton tells his staff: “We brought back lots of souvenirs – including the Moroccan equivalent of “Delhi Belly” – maybe the meal of sheep’s head and goat’s testicles from the Medina wasn’t such a good idea after all.”

The blog was addressed to Sandwell Council staff, who have been offered voluntary redundancy and face the prospect of being forced from their jobs.

Today opposition Conservative leader Councillor Ray Nock said the blog added “insult to injury” to staff.

He said: “Everybody is entitled to a holiday but while Sandwell Council is making redundancies I feel it’s in very bad taste that the interim chief executive uses the taxpayer funded site to talk about it.”

Today Mr Britton said: “The idea of the blog is to keep staff informed of council business in an informal and easy to read style. It enables staff to raise all sorts of matters with me  and to know what the chief executive is doing.   A short note about my holiday was simply an informal way of letting staff know that I was back on duty after five days away. “