The States Assembly & Constitution Committee has lodged a proposition to suspend him from politics for 25 days, in line with a recommendation from appeals commissioner Martin Jelley. This followed an initial investigation by standards commissioner Dr Melissa McCullough, who wanted him removed for 30 days.
The final decision will be made by the States Assembly, almost certainly at its meeting starting on 26 November.
‘The simple facts of this case are that I verbally confirmed facts to a journalist, and for that the proposed consequences are extraordinary and dystopian,’ said Deputy St Pier.
‘If the States endorses this recommendation to suspend me, it will be setting a very dangerous precedent for deputies, and for the fundamental role we play in seeking accountability and challenging vested interests.
‘In short, the use of the code of conduct to prevent elected representatives from speaking to the media about public interest issues undermines democracy.’
Three members of Sacc lodged the proposition, after its other two members, Deputy St Pier himself and his Forward Guernsey party colleague Deputy Tom Rylatt, withdrew from the committee’s discussion.
Deputies Sarah Hansmann Rouxel, Yvonne Burford and John Gollop accepted that Sacc was not required to follow the commissioners’ recommendations, but also claimed that their committee’s role was merely procedural and concerned with passing the recommendations to the Assembly for a decision.
The Guernsey Press revealed last month that Dr McCullough had found Deputy St Pier guilty of breaking numerous sections of the code of conduct during a telephone call last year with a journalist from the Guardian who was looking into several families’ concerns about paediatric services in Guernsey. No story has been published.
Dr McCullough’s months-long investigation was prompted by a complaint she received from local consultant paediatrician Dr Sandie Bohin.
Her report criticised Deputy St Pier for ‘a deliberate and sustained effort to unfairly criticise, discredit and cause harm to Dr Bohin’s professional and personal reputation’.
In his appeal, Deputy St Pier claimed the allegations against him were supported by little or no evidence and contained numerous inaccuracies. The appeal was largely dismissed by Mr Jelley, but he recommended shortening the suspension period by five days.
In October last year, the Assembly reprimanded Deputy St Pier following a code of conduct investigation into a speech he made in 2022 during which he criticised Dr Bohin and paediatric services. He was cleared of abusing parliamentary privilege.
‘Since then, with each fresh complaint against me and each round of media publicity, more constituents have come to me with their own experiences of poor behaviours or clinical care, primarily but not exclusively in the paediatric area,’ said Deputy St Pier yesterday.
‘In addition to the three families who approached me before April 2022 can now be added 23 families and practitioners, bringing the total to 27 – the most recent family approaching me only four weeks ago.
‘Advocating to try and give voice to serious concerns expressed to me by the public has been extremely stressful and has cost me and my family dearly. However, representing families damaged, neglected or ignored by the system is one of the most important and trusted elements of the role for which I have been elected, and one that I take extremely seriously.’
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