A COUNCILLOR has been found guilty of ‘bullying’ a council leader following an investigation into his conduct.
Councillors sitting on the members sub-committee found Cllr John Baldwin (Lib Dem: Belmont) guilty of five breaches of the Royal Borough’s code of conduct.
A probe was conducted after council leader Andrew Johnson (Con: Hurley & Walthams) submitted a complaint about Cllr Baldwin’s behaviour during the confidential part of the corporate overview and scrutiny committee held on Monday, September 12.
He also said he received a ‘highly threatening email’ from Cllr Baldwin after the meeting.
During the committee, councillors were discussing a call-in of the confidential decision relating to the 434 homes St Cloud Way scheme, which Cllr Baldwin joined remotely.
Cllr Johnson states in his complaint that, whilst muted, Cllr Baldwin could be seen having a conversation with someone in his kitchen during the confidential meeting, of which only councillors and council officers can attend.
The council leader went on to say that given the leak into St Cloud Way, which the Local Democracy Reporting Service reported the former leisure centre site’s value plummeted by millions of pounds, he was ‘concerned’ the meeting was ‘not secure’ and raised this with the chairman Cllr Gerry Clark (Con: Bisham & Cookham).
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Cllr Johnson claimed the Belmont representative ‘exploded with rage and responded highly aggressive and threatening manner’, stating the council leader had ‘attacked his wife’.
Shortly after the meeting, the Conservative leader said he received a ‘highly threatening email’ from Cllr Baldwin, who copied in another councillor [name redacted], the monitoring officer, and chief executive, stating: “If that man mentions my wife again, in private or in public, there is no force on Earth that would save him from a reckoning, and he should know that.”
Cllr Johnson wrote: “I view these combined as a most serious breach of the code, not least the threat contained within the email.”
Within Cllr Baldwin’s email, he admitted his wife ‘happened to wander’ in and was ‘entirely ignorant of the context’.
Cllr Baldwin, who attended the sub-committee meeting on March 17, 2023, said Cllr Johnson ‘victimised his wife’ and that the council leader wouldn’t do that if it was a public meeting.
The sub-committee found Cllr Baldwin guilty of bringing his office to dispute and for bullying the council leader over the wording of his email to Cllr Johnson.
They also found the Lib Dem councillor guilty of disclosing confidential discussions to his wife without lawful excuse and failing to treat Cllr Johnson with respect.
They formally censured Cllr Baldwin for his behaviour and the impact and have recommended Liberal Democrat leader Simon Werner (Pinkneys Green) for Cllr Baldwin not to be appointed to cabinet, council committees, or any sub-committees of the council and outside bodies for a year.
In response to the decision, Cllr Baldwin said: “After four years of provocation and 14 or 15 complaints (all of which were dismissed) the Conservative Administration has finally succeeded in, what, with hindsight, appears to have been their all-consuming policy goal.
“A code of conduct ruling, upon yet another of their complaints, finding me to be in breach.
“If only they had been so implacable and conscientious in pursuit of something that might benefit the residents of the borough.
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“Instead, they focused all their energies on their own selfish personal and political vendetta. On May 4, the voters will decide who has genuinely brought the council into disrepute.
“I will accept their verdict.”
In December, Cllr Baldwin was taken off all council committees after a “wholly inappropriate outburst,” which was reported to the council and internal Liberal Democrat party procedures.
Cllr Werner said at the time: “John has recently changed his coronary prescriptions, and this has had a severe effect on his sleep patterns, which in turn has affected his general wellbeing.”
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