Councillor David Burgess-Joyce “apologetic” to Wirral Council’s Standards Panel for “racist” tweet following 7 complaints by members of the public
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Standards Panel (Wirral Council) Cllr David Burgess-Joyce 4th December 2019 Part 1 of 2
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Standards Panel (Wirral Council) Cllr David Burgess-Joyce 4th December 2019 Part 2 of 2
After seven complaints had been made by members of the public (although only one of those seven Mr Paul Cardin was present for the Standards Panel) about a tweet that Cllr David Burgess-Joyce made in July 2019, councillors on Wirral Council’s Standards Panel met on 4th December 2019 to decide whether there had been a breach of the Code of Conduct.
Cllr David Burgess-Joyce had already been suspended from the Conservative Group of councillors on Wirral Council and from the Conservative Party.
In summary the complainants alleged that the tweet of Cllr David Burgess-Joyce (in reply to a tweet of David Lammy MP) was racist. Cllr David Burgess-Joyce had since deleted the tweet, written a letter of apology to David Lammy MP and pinned the letter of apology to his Twitter account.
The specific parts of the Code of Conduct he was alleged to have broken were on “treating others with respect” and “not conducting himself in a manner contrary to Wirral Council’s legal duty to promote and maintain high standards of conduct” of councillors.
The Liverpool Echo and BBC had both reported on the tweet in question and suspension in July 2019.
As the Standards Panel decided to have the meeting in public, you can watch video above of what Cllr David Burgess-Joyce and Paul Cardin said during the meeting.
During the meeting Cllr David Burgess-Joyce was apologetic about what had happened, referred to the letter of apology that he had sent and published. He also explained to the Panel that as a result of what had happened he had lost out on £40,000 of work due to the controversy and been treated as a “pariah”.
The Panel (after deliberating in private) did find a breach of the Code of Conduct by Cllr David Burgess-Joyce had happened, but it is not known at the time of publication what sanction will be applied.
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