Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Mayor’s breach of conduct a ‘tragedy’

It was a “tragedy” the Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough breached the code of conduct and brought his office into disrepute, a board member has said.The Mayor Dr Nik Johnson faced the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority board members this week (November 29) following the outcome of a two-year investigation into his actions.Some board members said they did not condone the past actions, but said they were content with the changes made.

However, the Mayor faced a call from one board member to consider resigning.An investigation was launched two-years ago after complaints were lodged against the Mayor, which included allegations of “bullying behaviour and toxic culture”.The full independent investigator's report has not been published, but a decision notice released by the authority released some of the information.The investigator said the Mayor did not breach the code in relation to bullying, but found he had breached the code in relation to disrepute and civility.In particular the report criticised the Mayor’s lack of action to address the alleged behaviour of a former employee who had been described as a “henchman”.The investigator said a lot of what had been complained about around the allegations of bullying and a toxic culture were “emanated” from the ex-employee.

Calls on Mayor to resign

The Mayor has apologised for his actions in the early days of him taking office and said he accepted the findings against him.At the board meeting this week, Councillor Anna Bailey (Conservative), leader of East Cambridgeshire District Council, said she believed the decision not to release the full report was “wrong” and said the Mayor should consider resigning.She said: “The fall out from that over the last two years has been extreme and like nothing else I have experienced.“I do thank the panel for their work, but I think the sanctions available to them fall woefully short recognising the seriousness of events that have taken place at this authority.“I feel that information has been hidden from the public, information described in the open papers as the work of henchmen, raises massive alarm bells with members of the public.”Cllr Bailey said there was “no transparency” by keeping the full report private and argued its publication was in the public interest.Councillor Chirs Boden (Conservative), leader of Fenland District Council, said while he had political differences with the Mayor he had always found him to be “pleasant and friendly”.He said this was “one of the reasons why this is so much of a tragedy”.Cllr Boden said by not releasing the report there was the “impression of secrecy”, which he said was “harmful” for the Combined Authority.Edwina Adefehinti, chief officer legal and governance monitoring officer, said she had consulted with a top law firm and a barrister about releasing the report, who had agreed with her recommendation not to.She also said the panel’s decision was final and said she did not believe it would be proper governance for this to be overridden by the board.

Social media rumours discussed

She also said all of the information in the report relating to the Mayor had been included in the decision notice, including all of the allegations against him and the outcome of the investigation into these complaints.Comments were made at the meeting about rumours being shared on social media about what happened.Councillor Anna Smith (Labour), deputy mayor at the Combined Authority, asked Ms Adefehinti to confirm that there were no allegations of “sexual impropriety” made against the Mayor, which she said she believed some rumours were claiming.Ms Adefehinti said no allegations like that at all had been made, and reiterated that all of the allegations made against the Mayor had been detailed in the published decision notice.Councillor Lucy Nethsingha (Liberal Democrat), leader of Cambridgeshire County Council, said it was important to be clear about what the findings of the investigation were.She stressed the findings were that the Mayor had not been disrespectful to any employees, but had brought his role of Mayor into disrepute due to a lack of leadership.Councillor Sarah Conboy (Liberal Democrat), leader of Huntingdonshire District Council, said she did not condone the behaviour described in the report.However, she said after confirming the changes made at the authority since then, she said she believed there were the “right things in place going forward”, adding that she was content the authority was now “in a better place than we may have been”.

‘I apologise unreservedly’

The Mayor Dr Nik Johnson said he “apologised unreservedly” to those who have made complaints against him.He said the discussion by board members at the meeting had also given him “much to reflect on”.He said he welcomed the publication of the decision notice as he said this provided “much needed clarity”, but said he was still limited on what he could say.The Mayor said: “Having lived through it myself I can appreciate how heavily this whole period has weighed on many people.“Those were very difficult times, mistakes were made and where I was at fault I have accepted the findings against me.”The Mayor also challenged Cllr Bailey on a statement she published on social media.In the statement she made reference to him being a practising doctor and said she “would have thought” he had “breached the Hippocratic Oath”.

Mayor says he may move ‘formal action’ over unsubstantiated claims from board member

The Mayor said Cllr Bailey had “cast aspersions” against him as a practising doctor and called for her to retract her comments.He said: “Cllr Bailey I have no wish to prevent you from holding me to account and have no objections to your robustly challenging my politics, my policies, or my performance.“As I see it you have an inalienable right to do so, however, in your public comments you have cast aspersions against me as practising doctor.“You have also made an unsubstantiated insinuation regarding instructions given about me to a junior member of staff, choosing a form of words that could be interpreted as suggesting impropriety on my part.“As the decision makes clear, your claims bear no resemblance to any matters covered in the investigation.“Given their reputationally damaging nature I ask that you publicly retract those remarks and apologise accordingly, if not you will leave me with no alternative than to move towards formal action against you.”Cllr Bailey said she stood by what she had said in a statement published on social media as she said it “states the truth”.She also said it was “not helpful for relationships moving forward” that the Mayor was “threatening action against a fellow member of the board”.