The Conservative leader of Harrogate Borough Council has called for an apology from a Liberal Democrat councillor who was a victim of offensive tweets sent by a disgraced council employee.
It follows the Stray Ferret’s revelation that an anonymous Twitter account posting abusive messages about Cllr Matthew Webber, among others, was run by the council’s head of parking services, Steve Rogers.
Mr Rogers resigned this morning with immediate effect – but a hostile email exchange on Wednesday reveals tension at the council as it attempted to deal with his actions.
The extraordinary message, seen by the Stray Ferret, was sent by Cllr Richard Cooper to Cllr Webber, copying in all councillors, the chief executive – and Mr Rogers, the very person who had been responsible for the abuse and was under investigation at the time.
It led to the council’s chief executive being forced to step in and call for silence on the issue.
Cllr Cooper wrote:
“I don’t read the Stray Ferret but a friend highlighted the article yesterday where you were quoted having complained to the chief executive about the Twitter account of a council employee calling for action and describing how a post about you had been upsetting.
“I sympathise. As many know I used to have a Twitter account but I came off because of the endless abuse I received.
“For some reason I find social media abuse far more hurtful than emails or phone calls. It is so easy for these keyboard warriors to type their anonymous bile late at night and cause hurt and upset.”
Cllr Cooper went on to mention he was aware of Cllr Webber’s complaint to the council’s chief executive, Wallace Sampson, and said he would not comment on that because he sits on the HR committee, which would have dealt with Mr Rogers had he not resigned.
Cllr Cooper pointed out in the email that Cllr Webber followed two accounts which he said were “dedicated to abusing” and “ridiculing” him. He appears to draw comparison between Cllr Webber following the accounts and Mr Rogers’ actions on his ChippyGlory account.
He added:
“Clearly if, as you state, Mr Rogers’ actions on his Twitter account bring the council into disrepute then the same could apply to your actions in following accounts clearly and specifically designed to insult and degrade me.
“I hope you will considering apologising and stop following those accounts and any others that I haven’t spotted that seek to demean, ridicule and insult local politicians.”
As well as copying Mr Rogers, Cllr Cooper sent the email to all 38 Harrogate borough councillors and chief executive Wallace Sampson.
Cllr Cooper said he did this “for transparency’s sake”, saying Mr Rogers should be aware of the correspondence. The full email from Cllr Cooper is below.
Read more:
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The Stray Ferret contacted Cllr Webber about Cllr Cooper’s email.
He said he did not want to comment any further on Mr Rogers, but he was considering making a complaint to the council’s standards committee about the council leader’s email.
He said he had never tweeted anything abusive in his life and found the comparison to be “completely inappropriate”.
He added:
“I was shocked and disappointed with the tone and the inference that I’m as bad as Steve Rogers.”
Less than two hours later on Wednesday, the council’s chief executive, Wallace Sampson, sent a firm email instructing councillors to stop all communications about the situation.
Following the article about Mr Rogers’ tweets on the Stray Ferret this week, Liberal Democrat leader Cllr Pat Marsh had called for the council employee to be dismissed, while fellow Lib Dem Cllr Chris Aldred asked for him to have supervision responsibilities for female staff members to be removed, and Conservative Cllr Nick Brown said he should be suspended while an investigation took place.
Referring to these statements and Cllr Cooper’s email, Mr Sampson wrote to all councillors to remind them of the need for the council’s HR processes to be followed. He added:
“I am therefore writing to all councillors to make clear that any further public comment or communication regarding this matter must cease with immediate effect, as such actions could be prejudicial to ensuring a fair and transparent process as the investigation takes its course.
“To be calling for the dismissal of an officer prior to an investigation considering the breach of policy is at risk of pre-determination.”
Mr Rogers has not posted from his Twitter account since the story was published earlier this week. He apologised for what he had previously posted and said he had “changed his persona over recent months”.
The Stray Ferret contact both Harrogate Borough Council and Cllr Richard Cooper for a comment on the situation. Neither has responded to our request.
