He said he had received messages from critics saying they would not stop until he was removed and claimed some people had been approached to make false accusations about him and his committee on social media.
He said that he was almost certain he knew of one individual who was behind the campaign, but declined to name him when pressed on the latest Guernsey Press Politics Podcast.
‘There is a small army of people out there who will do anything they can to take out me as the president of Home Affairs and my committee and service chiefs. Anything to do with Home Affairs will get attacked,’ said Deputy Leadbeater.
Hear more from Deputy Leadbeater on the latest Guernsey Press Politics Podcast
‘I have to accept that as part of the job. I will let everybody else formulate their own opinion on where this has all come from. I know where it has come from.
‘Of course, it’s being coordinated. I don’t think you need to be Poirot to figure out that it is being coordinated.’
Home Affairs is responsible for policing, which has been the subject of increasing commentary on social media in recent years, and for the prison, which is under closer scrutiny after a member of staff was jailed and another arrested late last year, and following a suicide in custody this month.
Deputy Leadbeater was drawn into a public row after police critic Deputy Rob Curgenven was thrown off a review of the police complaints regime, and he is now facing down conflict of interest allegations as the lead signatory of a requete about cannabis reform.
He was an ordinary member of Home Affairs in the 2016-20 States term but claimed to have walked into ‘a completely different landscape’ since returning to the committee as president following last summer’s general election.
‘I can’t repeat the stuff I’ve been called,’ said Deputy Leadbeater.
‘I have challenged these people to come and meet me. Out of all these people, I think three of them have met me.
‘One just wanted to have a rant at me for about an hour, so I listened.
‘The other two, after leaving those meetings, had completely changed their minds about the position and what they had read on social media because I was able to have a proper conversation with them. You can’t do it on social media. There are things I can’t say in public forums.’
He said much of the alleged campaign against him and his committee was centred ‘on a certain Facebook page’ and admitted it was ‘a massive distraction’ from a large policy agenda he and his members wish to lead in this political term.
‘The committee just wants to go and do some work. We’ve laid out our priorities for this term and I’m really excited about some of the work.
‘If we can achieve what we set out to achieve, I will look back and be proud because we’ve bitten off some big chunky pieces of work which other committees may have shied away from in the past.’
Home Affairs’ agenda between now and 2029 includes reforming policies on justice, including court sentencing, and population, as well as addressing the police complaints regime.
You need to be logged in to comment. If you had an account on our previous site, you can migrate your old account and comment profile to this site by visiting this page and entering the email address for your old account. We'll then send you an email with a link to follow to complete the process.