THE FORMER leader of Tameside Council and four other members will be censured for their part in the Trigger Me Timbers WhatsApp scandal that left colleagues ‘appalled, shocked and disgusted.’
Cllrs Brenda Warrington and Allison Gwynne – wife of now former MP Andrew, who was suspended from the Labour Party – are also set to be removed from any panels they sit on and disqualified from being on them in the next municipal year.
And chair of the standards sub-committee, Cllr Joe Kitchen, called on the Government to give panels more power to give out stronger punishments, including suspension or dismissal.
Denton West Cllr Warrington defiantly faced the hearing on Monday, February 2 and Tuesday, February 3 as Tameside Council probed her role in the group and that of Cllrs Gwynne, Jack Naylor, George Jones and George Newton, as well as that of now former Cllr Claire Reid.
She cannot be accused of not putting up a fight, stating ‘malicious’ complaints were a result of ‘political motivation’ and claiming ‘collusion.’
She questioned why three other Tameside councillors who were members – Charlotte Martin, Denise Ward and Vincent Ricci – were not subject of complaints and claimed two of those, along with former leader Cllr Ged Cooney, were ‘very involved’ in the leaking of the transcript to the national press.
Cllr Warrington also asserted she was not acting as leader of the council when she wrote in the group, but: “I was simply me.”
However, the damning assessment of Cllr Kitchen as multiple breaches of Tameside Council’s code of conduct were proved spoke volumes.
He said: “We were absolutely appalled, shocked and disgusted by the contents of that WhatsApp group.
“We were also extremely disappointed that senior members on that group did not call it out or show any leadership whatsoever.
“But as a reminder to all elected members, a case of freedom of speech, I believe, does not apply to politicians, local or national, once you take up your office in the eyes of the public who elected you.
“You are a councillor or a politician 24/7.
“I know members of the public will be disappointed with some of the decisions we’ve made in respect that they don’t believe it went far enough.
“But we can only work with the tools we’re given. It’s up to the government to strengthen powers of standards sub-committee that allows us to consider whether we suspend or dismiss councillors.
“If it was available to us, we would’ve certainly considered it against each member.”
Cllr Warrington, who stated her case for about 70 minutes, raised eyebrows among the public gallery and people shook their heads several times.
She claimed the way procedure was followed ‘indicated pre-determination’ and said: “I had absolutely no opportunity, as I should’ve had, to make any representations about the complaints before an investigator was commissioned.
“The former monitoring officer failed to adopt the procedures as agreed by the council, thus rendering the subject member significantly disadvantaged. This is not in the interests of natural justice.
“These complaints were malicious and politically motivated involving a number of people, but I was denied the right for this to be explored.
“I consider the integrity of whole process has been severely compromised.”
Cllr Warrington even accused complainants Phil Foster and Cllr Kaleel Khan of colluding and said she wondered if independent investigator Linda Comstive was ‘acting as an advocate for the complainant.’
At one stage, she claimed Denton North East Cllrs Ward and Ricci colluded with another former leader, Cllr Ged Cooney, after ‘pledging loyalty to me’ in what she called ‘nasty, hostile’ leadership campaign,
The latter two looked on just yards away as she added – while admitting she did not realise Tameside Council was paying for the mobile phone she used on the group, which she believed was ‘my own property’: “Omitting to complain about Cllrs Ricci, Ward and Martin, again, indicates there was collusion, political motivation for not including them.”
Cllr Warrington countered Cllr Khan’s assertion his complaint was not politically motivated and said it had not been challenged in any way, saying: “I do not accept that this is the truth.
“I deeply resent these types of concocted, false allegations that had been made without proof or evidence, purely to flesh out a complaint made purely on political grounds.
“I have been subjected to considerable abuse, particularly on social media. It really has been a very unfair situation as far as I’m concerned.
“Cllr Khan chose to involve himself for some kind of political gain. He’s set himself up as some kind of champion, it’s well known he has ambitions, I believe he’ll be looking to become an MP and will see this as an opportunity to extend his notoriety and keep his name in the public domain.”
On her involvement in Trigger Me Timbers and why she did not call out other comments, Cllr Warrington, who has publicly apologised, added: “I didn’t feel I had to be leader all the time.
“Simply judging on the basis of the written word is wholly unfair and isn’t in the interest if natural justice as it doesn’t provide the background or context that led to any of my comments, which were often an expression of frustration following an encounter.
“Some of the content was derogatory and in some cases, I agree it was offensive or unkind. This is unacceptable.
“I maintain my belief that WhatsApp is not social media in the literal sense of the word. It’s a private chat facility and publication was a total surprise.
“I will not accept responsibility for comments made by other people. It’s not my role to police other people. I accept full responsibility for anything I contributed.
“I would never have thought any person in the group would have been so deceitful or so malicious as to give the chat to a national newspaper.
“I believe those who revealed it should be responsible for any backlash. I believe those who leaked it should be brought to task. If they had been so offended, I find it incomprehensible it took four years for that to be done.
“It was purely a malicious act done for political motivation.”
After being found to have breached the code of conduct three times – failing to treat the public with respect, bringing the council into disrepute and misusing council facilities – Cllr Warrington will be censured and current leader, Cllr Eleanor Wills, will be asked to remove her from Tameside Council’s own standards committee, children’s services scrutiny panel and health and adult social car scrutiny panel.
She can also not be considered for panel roles at May’s annual general meeting of authority.
Cllr Gwynne may be removed from the audit committee, place and external relations scrutiny panel and Speaker’s Panel (Licensing) after being found in breach of three parts of the code. She could also not be appointed at the AGM.
Cllr Newton was cleared of bullying but can be removed from the democratic processes working group after breaching three elements of the code.
Cllr Naylor, who insisted making a joke involving Jews was not anti-semitic, was found to have not breached the code on grounds of discrimination nor not co-operating with the investigation.
He can, though, be taken off from the scrutiny co-ordination and strategic improvement scrutiny panel and the Greater Manchester Pension Fund’s management advisory panel and not reappointed at the AGM.
Cllr Jones was cleared of not treating others with respect but was found to hve brought the authority into disrepute by taking part.
And had Claire Reid still been a councillor, she would have been cleared of bullying but found in breach of two counts.
As well as all being censured, all bar Cllr Jones will be told to undertake training on the code of conduct, equalities and diversity and the Nolan principles of public conduct.