Council refuses to act on fake Twitter accounts
Social media posts were ‘unprofessional’
A COUNCIL in Yorkshire has said it would not discipline any councillor who ran a fake social media profile which abused members of the public and political opponents after clearing a Labour representative of being behind such an account following a monthlong investigation.
The ruling was made by Sheffield Council’s legal director Gillian Duckworth in the conclusion of an investigation into whether one such alleged Twitter account, which repeatedly sent derogatory messages to anti-tree felling campaigners and the city’s Lord Mayor, Green Party councillor Magid Magid, over a series of months, was connected to a Labour member.
The council’s position was described today as “giving carte blanche for councillors to do this and not be held to account” by complainant Sally Goldsmith.
It follows an investigation into her complaint relating to a Twitter account using the name ‘John Blake’ and the handle @johnbwalkley.
The council had investigated an allegation that the account was being run by Labour councillor Neale Gibson, who represents the city’s Walkley ward.
Coun Gibson has previously strongly denied any link to the account and there is no suggestion he has any connection to it.
The investigation did separately find Coun Gibson had sent messages which could be interpreted as “insensitive and unprofessional” from his own Twitter account.
Gillian Duckworth, who is monitoring officer and director of legal and governance, concluded “it was not definitively clear that the alleged false account @ johnbwalkley belongs to Coun Gibson”.
But her findings added: “Even if the account did belong to him, he would not be acting in his official capacity as a councillor when using it and, therefore, the issue would fall outside the scope of the Members’ Code of Conduct.”
Complainant Sally Goldsmith,
A COUNCILLOR in Sheffield has been reprimanded for “insensitive and unprofessional” social media messages that included calling an unnamed opposition politician “an arrogant little s***” – just weeks after apologising for online remarks which he made about the death of a 15-year-old allergy sufferer.
Coun Neale Gibson, a Labour councillor who represents the Walkley ward, was investigated by Sheffield Council after a complaint was made about comments posted on his Twitter account, which has more than 2,200 followers.
One message read: “If it’s the LibDem Councillor I’m thinking of then they are an arrogant little s*** who should be reported to the standards board.”
In another message, he posted a picture of a pigeon inside the Sheffield Town Hall, with a message on June 25 which read: “Sheffield Council occupied again by dumb creature”.
The message followed protesters who oppose the council’s treethe felling programme occupying the council chamber in February.
A council investigation concluded that the tweets “can be interpreted as insensitive and unprofessional” and, therefore, constitute a potential breach of Members’ Code of Conduct. It said the matter could be “best resolved” by Coun Gibson receiving “face-to-face guidance with the monitoring officer and group whip on the appropriate use of social media”.
The findings from council legal director Gillian Duckworth to complainant Sally Goldsmith read: “With reference to the comments made through @nealeggibson including the council chamber being occupied again by dumb creatures and also comments made in relation to another councillor, I understand that he may not have intended any malice but even so I recognise that his tweets could be interpreted as such out of the context of a wider conversation.
“Thus, the fact remains that these comments on social media can be interpreted as insensitive and unprofessional. I have concluded that Coun Gibson was acting in an official capacity in his dealing with you and others on social media and, therefore, the Members’ Code of Conduct does apply.”
Coun Gibson did not respond to repeated attempts to reach him for comment.