Outburst outcome ‘deeply regrettable’
Royal Borough: Councillor resigns and thanks Belmont residents
A Lib Dem councillor has resigned as a councillor with immediate effect as a result of the fallout of a ‘wholly inappropriate outburst’ last year.
Cllr John Baldwin (Lib Dem, Belmont) had aimed the outburst at a council officer in a Microsoft Teams meeting, in the presence of a young person.
He was removed from his positions on all council committees while investigations took place.
In a separate incident reported in the Advertiser last week, a Royal Borough investigation found Cllr Baldwin had breached the council’s code of conduct for ‘bullying and disrespectful’ behaviour towards the council leader.
Group leader Cllr
Simon Werner said that the outburst at the officer had been reported through the RBWM Members’ Code of Conduct as well as internal Liberal Democrat party procedures.
This week, the results of this latter process found that Cllr Baldwin had not upheld the values of the party and he would no longer be allowed to sit as Liberal Democrat councillor for a year, effective immediately from Monday.
Shortly afterwards, he announced that he is stepping down as a councillor, also with immediate effect.
He said that the proper procedure ‘was followed scrupulously’ and the party ‘acted without partiality’ and in a manner ‘that was entirely appropriate to the seriousness of my error in judgement’.
“At all times, I was represented and, as a loyal party member I am content to accept their verdict. I will not be appealing, though it is my right,” he said.
“No attempt was made, by me or others, to obfuscate or temporise, indeed my group leader and friend, Cllr Simon
Werner took decisive action in the days immediately after the incident.”
He said he would ‘continue to take an interest’ in local affairs and co-operate with community groups, and thanked the residents of Belmont for their support and wished his fellow Lib Dems luck.
“There has never been a moment in time when the Borough needed fresh leadership more than now and the depth of our candidates’ talent pool will, I’m sure, increase for my absence,” he added.
Cllr Werner said: “John has achieved so much as a councillor over the last four years.
“His support and hard work for the Maidenhead and Windsor Green Teams, ecology groups across the Borough, climate change campaigners, Maidenhead Great Park and the Friends of Deerswood Meadow show that he is a committed, engaged, hard-working champion, who believes everyone’s voice should be heard.
“Deerswood Meadow would be a building site by now if it wasn’t for his action.”
“John has shown himself to be an excellent councillor but Liberal Democrats must hold ourselves and each other to a very high standard at all times.
“That it has come to this is deeply regrettable. John has owned his mistakes and apologised for them, and looks forward to re-establishing the trust that is necessarily at the heart of local representative politics.”
In response, the leader of the council Andrew Johnson said he was ‘pleased’ by the Lib Dems’ firm action.
“It’s not every day something like this happens in local politics,” he said.
“[The Lib Dems] agree that John Baldwin has brought their party into disrepute and as such should be banned from holding office as a Lib Dem.”
But he criticised Cllr Werner, saying: “Given the severity of the incident he should have been suspended immediately, yet Cllr Werner chose to cling on to him and brush it under the carpet.
“Whilst it is good to see the right outcome has been reached it should never have allowed to get this far.”