Standards complaint upheld against former council leader

Former county council leader Tony Johnson has been told to apologise after saying he was not aware of a complaint being upheld against one of his fellow Conservative members.

Herefordshire Council’s monitoring officer recently considered a complaint alleging that coun Johnson had breached the code of conduct after he told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that he was unaware of an upheld complaint against coun Emma Holton.

Coun Holton, now an Independent, was found in breach of the code because the content of some emails she sent to Councillor Liz Harvey was disrespectful.

She was told to apologise to coun Harvey and finally did so more than a year after the complaint was upheld.

The monitoring officer and the independent person concluded on October 18, 2018 that coun Johnson had breached the code.

Monitoring officer Claire Ward said: “Coun Johnson was made aware at the time that a complaint against a member of his group had been upheld by the monitoring officer.

“A copy of the outcome letter had been sent to him as the then group leader so that he was aware of outcome. This was in July 2017.

“There is no evidence that coun Johnson intended to deceive the Hereford Times as the complaint was dealt with a year previously.

“Coun Johnson in the article is quoted as saying ‘It would be inappropriate for me to comment until at least know what the thing was about’.

“With some sympathy as to how this article has been published without coun Johnson’s full response. It is however inaccurate to say that he was unaware of the complaint and the decision.

“It is recommended that coun Johnson apologise to coun Liz Harvey as he was aware of the outcome and to request a correction to the Hereford Times.”

Coun Johnson was contacted for a comment but he said he would instead write a letter to the Hereford Times.