Wednesday 04 September 2019
I am very grateful for being allowed to make a personal statement today and thank the Bailiff for his kind permission at short notice.
It has come to my attention over the weekend that a Code of Conduct complaint was made against Deputy Graham a month ago, by 2 members of the public in respect of statements of which I was one of the unnamed but identifiable subjects. As this has now come to the attention of the media, I feel it necessary to make a statement in this regard.
The complaint was upheld under Part 9 of the Code: that Members should at all times treat other members, civil servants, and members of the public with respect and courtesy and without malice, notwithstanding the disagreements on issues and policy which are a normal part of the political process.
The complainants who previously were unknown to me, shared with me their email correspondence with Deputy Graham and have given me permission to refer to it. I was shocked and hurt to see in that correspondence that a number of inaccurate statements had been made about me by Deputy Graham.
I believe that I have not been treated with respect or courtesy and in fact the emails I have seen evidence that statements and assertions about me and my behaviour have been made by Deputy Graham which simply are not correct.
As these may have been repeated I therefore respectfully ask Members to ignore statements which may have been made about me by Deputy Graham, in relation to the matter of the Code of Conduct complaint.
Deputy Graham did not attempt to check with me in advance the accuracy of the statements he has made about me and I have received no apology from Deputy Graham and this is a matter of great disappointment to me.
