Councillor breached code in leader row

Lib Dem censured for email and meeting outburst, but hits out at ‘vendetta’

A Lib Dem councillor has been found to have breached the council’s code of conduct for ‘bullying and disrespectful’ behaviour in a row with the council leader, writes Adrian Williams.

Councillor John Baldwin has been formally censured for his words aimed at Cllr Andrew Johnson last year.

He was found to have made five breaches of the Royal Borough’s code of conduct.

However, the Belmont councillor has hit back against the leader and the Conservatives, accusing them of pursuing the code of conduct complaint because of ‘a selfish personal and political vendetta.’

A complaint was made against Cllr Baldwin after a meeting of the corporate overview and scrutiny panel on September 12 last year.

A verbal altercation erupted between Cllr Baldwin and Cllr Johnson, when Cllr Johnson became concerned that the meeting was ‘not secure’ due to the presence of another person in the room with Cllr Baldwin, who was attending the meeting remotely.

This was during part two of a council meeting – which excludes members of the press and public, often for discussion of confidential material.

When this point was raised, Cllr Johnson said Cllr Baldwin ‘exploded with rage’ and responded ‘in a highly aggressive and threatening manner’.

“[He] state[d] that I had attacked his wife. I had never mentioned his wife and I had no idea who was present with him,” Cllr Johnson said in the monitoring officer’s report.

Cllr Baldwin reacted badly to what he saw as the implication that his wife had been the source of recent leaks to the press.

In an email to Cllr Johnson, described by him as ‘threatening’, Cllr Baldwin said: “If that man mentions my wife again, in private or in public, there is no force on Earth that would save him from a reckoning, and he should know that.”

Cllr Johnson viewed this as ‘a clear breach of the code of conduct under the sections relating to respect and bullying’.

This was in addition to ‘the main issue’ of disclosing confidential information by means of an ‘unsecure remote link’ into a part two meeting; and an ‘admission that a member of the public was present’ for part of the part two discussion.

“I view these combined as a most serious breach of the code,” said Cllr Johnson.

The monitoring officer assessed the complaint and made a decision to take the complaint forward for an investigation.

The investigating officer concluded that Cllr Baldwin breached the code of conduct by disclosing to his wife ‘without lawful excuse’ discussions that were confidential.

He also breached it by ‘fail[ing] to treat Cllr Johnson with respect’ when he said to him: “The leader of the council just victimised my wife. He just victimised my wife. Wow, does that make you feel a big guy? In part two, you wouldn’t do it in part one.”

Further breaches came of his email, which was found to be disrespectful, ‘constitute[d] bullying’ of Cllr Johnson and ‘brought [Cllr Baldwin’s] office into disrepute’.

A member standards sub committee was held on Friday. It agreed with these conclusions and has formally censured Cllr Baldwin for his behaviour.

It also recommended that leader of the Lib Dems, Cllr Simon Werner, not appoint Cllr Baldwin to any council committee or subcommittee positions for a year.

Cllr Baldwin said: “After four years of provocation and 14 or 15 complaints (all of which were dismissed) the Conservative administration has finally succeeded in, what, with hindsight, appears to have been their all-consuming policy goal.

“A code of conduct ruling, upon yet another of their complaints, finding me to be in breach.

“If only they had been so implacable and conscientious in pursuit of something that might benefit the residents of the borough.

“Instead, they focused all their energies on their own selfish personal and political vendetta.

“On the 4th of May, the voters will decide who has genuinely brought the council into disrepute.

“I will accept their verdict.” Following the findings, Cllr

Johnson spoke on behalf of the Conservative Group calling for Cllr Baldwin to be expelled from the Lib Dems and also for Lib Dem leader Cllr Simon Werner to resign.

He said that Cllr Werner’s situation is ‘untenable’ given ‘another very serious incident before Christmas’ in relation to Cllr Baldwin, which is the subject of an ongoing investigation.

“[We believe] Cllr Simon Werner should immediately resign as Lib Dem group leader, given his chronic failure to act in this case, especially as he was aware at the time of the e-mail to another councillor,” he said.

Cllr Werner described this is as ‘simply playing party-political games’.

He said that in his view, Cllr Johnson should also have taken action against fellow Tory councillor Ross McWilliams, also found to be in breach of the code of conduct.

“John did wrong and I have punished him by taking him off all committees – but that’s nothing compared to the abuse we have had from the Conservatives,” he said.