Facing series of complaints, deputy agrees to social media training

One is from Deputy Le Tissier himself - he self-referred to the Code of Conduct Panel and he has also made a public apology.

The Guernsey Party has suspended his membership for six months, after the other members concluded that the conduct fell below the standard expected and it brought their party into ‘disrepute’.

In a statement, the Guernsey Party also said that Deputy Le Tissier had volunteered to undertake social media use training.

Two of the committees on which Deputy Le Tissier serves – Home Affairs and the Development & Planning Authority – have barred him from their meetings until the matter can be resolved.

He is also a member of the Transport Licensing Authority, which meets rarely.

With Deputy Le Tissier absent, both committees were unanimous that the matters raised should be independently scrutinised.

Home Affairs president Rob Prow said all members of his committee had to be principled.

‘Integrity is at the very heart of the Committee for Home Affairs and we expect the highest standards of political members and officers,’ he said.

‘As elected officials, we must lead by example and our conduct and behaviour should be nothing but exemplary.

‘Following the committee’s meeting earlier today [Friday] I have met with Deputy Le Tissier and I am reassured that he has reached the decision to self-refer to the Code of Conduct Panel.

‘As a committee, we support this approach as being essential to rebuilding public confidence and trust.’

DPA president Victoria Oliver issued a similar response.

‘As a committee, we expect our political members and operational officers to conduct themselves in an appropriate manner and to act with integrity,’ she said.

‘This is essential for us to maintain public confidence, trust and to deliver the services which will benefit our community.

‘For this reason we have taken the decision to ask Deputy Le Tissier to self-refer to the Code of Conduct Panel, which we have been assured he has now done, and to recuse himself from all D&PA meetings in the interim.’

Last week the Guernsey Press was sent a series of screenshots from Deputy Le Tissier’s now-deleted Twitter account.

Under the guise of @Radiosutch he made a number of posts about being what he called ‘true Guernsey’.

He revelled in having ‘the stamp’, which is the imprint in the passport of those who have all four grandparents from Guernsey, and he tried to denigrate some people who were from the UK.

Anti-discrimination legislation was another thing he railed against, referring to it as ‘sheer fantasy land thinking’.

Under the code of conduct, the independent chair first has to decide if there is a case to answer before a panel sits to hear evidence directly.

It can recommend sanctions up to be expelled from the States.