Councillor told to apologise and delete social media posts following investigation into complaints over Tweets

A complaint against Stephen O’Brien, a Liberal Democrat member of Sunderland City Council, was submitted in September 2018 Antony Mullen, leader of Wearside’s opposition Conservative group.

It followed a series of remarks by the Sandhill representative on Twitter about links “between the Sunderland Council Conservative Group and the Labour Group” and interactions between the two groups’ representatives on the council’s Children, Education and Skills Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

Following a probe, the city’s standards committee has ruled “on the balance of probability” that the comments breached paragraph one of the councillor code of conduct, requiring they “treat others with respect, including council officers and other elected members”.

The complaint claimed Cllr O’Brien had alleged former Conservative councillor Bob Francis liked to “cosy up” with Labour councillor Patricia Smith, the chair of the scrutiny committee, because Mr Francis, who stood down at last year’s round of local elections, received a special responsibility allowance (SRA) as vice-chair.

The investigation report added “Cllr Francis did not receive an additional special responsibility allowance for serving as vice chair on this committee”, which was pointed out to Cllr O’Brien by Robert Oliver, former leader of the Tory group, as part of the Twitter exchange.

Later that day, Cllr O’Brien was alleged to have responded to a separate Tweet from the @SlandTories Twitter account with another comment regarding Cllr Francis and the vice-chair role, according to the documents.

The report added Cllr Mullen said Cllr O’Brien was “twice asked by Graham Hall, Chair of the Sunderland Conservative Association Management Board to retract his statements, but did not do so”.

According to the investigating officer, the failure to take any corrective action was, in his view, “disrespectful”.

It was added that the allegations “were objectively incorrect”.

After considering potential sanctions for Cllr O'Brien, the council’s Hearing Sub-Committee decided to hit him with a formal censure.

It also recommended he issue a written apology to former Mr Francis and delete the tweets that led to the complaint from his account.

Further sanctions include the monitoring officer offering training to Cllr O’Brien on the appropriate use of social media by members of the council.

The Hearing Sub-Committee of the standards committee held its inquiry in respect of the complaint in March 2022, after it had been investigated by David Kitson from law firm Bevan Brittan LLP.

Cllr O’Brien subsequently requested a review of the decision, which was referred to the Independent Person for South Tyneside Council to undertake.

The Hearing Sub-Committee met again on August 12 and confirmed its original decision after considering the review’s findings.

When contacted by the Echo, Cllr O’Brien said he did not wish to comment on the investigation report and its findings.

It is not the first time Cllr O’Brien has fallen foul of the Standards Committee.

In 2020 he faced calls to resign after the panel found he had misused council stationary for political purposes.

When contacted, Mr Francis and Cllr Smith also said they had no comments to make.

The latest findings will go before the next full meeting of Sunderland City Council on Wednesday (October 12).