'Home truths' finally laid bare

Friday 03 July 2020

Deputy Victoria Oliver will remain on Home Affairs after her colleagues on that committee u-turned on their bid to sack her - however that did not stop members from engaging in an acrimonious war of words over who was at fault for the breakdown in their relationship.

Home Affairs brought to the States a last-minute motion to withdraw a policy letter which asked the States to remove Deputy Victoria Oliver from the committee over comments made on social media.

Deputies opposed that by 17 votes to 16, which meant that those involved each gave their own accounts of what had happened. 

The policy letter calling for Deputy Oliver to be sacked from the committee was laid by its four other members following a row on Facebook, in which the Home Affairs member publicly commented on an ongoing criminal case - something the committee has been called out on before. She is said to have criticised the actions of Guernsey Police officers and also spoke out against the appointment of Deputy Marc Leadbeater as Vice President of Home.

Deputy Oliver commented that local police shouldn't be "arresting people who have very small amounts when Vice President is Director of a whole blooming farm. It stinks no matter which way you look", referencing Deputy Leadbeater's involvement in a cannabis company.

Pictured: When Deputy Marc Leadbeater voted to sack Deputy Victoria Oliver, Deputy John Gollop could be heard on his microphone saying "That's naughty".

Home Affairs President Mary Lowe said that Deputy Oliver had breached a protocol her Committee had with Law Enforcement about interfering in operational matters.

"This is not about the rights and wrongs of decriminalising cannabis. It is not about Deputy Oliver’s freedom of speech.

"Deputy Oliver had no knowledge or idea how minor or major the event was, she speculated the social media post was right so waded in and apologised for what the person had been through. That oversteps the mark of good governance."

Since the incident, Deputy Lowe said her colleague, who became a States member in 2016, had blamed the comments on still being "new to the job" and had shown "an inability to accept responsibility for her actions".

However, she said that the committee had this week resolved their difference of opinion "amicably", leading to the committee wanting to keep Deputy Oliver on the board.

That amicability was ridiculed by Deputy Peter Roffey, who said that Deputy Lowe's speech demonstrated "loud and clear" that there had been no such thing.  

Yes, as did Jeremy Smithies. Paul Le Pelley abstained. But the committee are united in wanting Victoria to stay, apparently.

— Rhian Tooley #ReviveandThrive (@RhianGsy) July 3, 2020

Pictured: Deputy Rhian Tooley said the final vote showed that Home Affairs was clearly not united in wanting Deputy Oliver to stay.

Deputy Barry Brehaut said he had spoken to Deputy Oliver this week and suggested she had been "pressurised" by her committee to come to an agreement. 

"She was clearly very distressed when I spoke to her - immense pressure has been placed on someone to do something they did not want to do," he said 

Deputy Oliver said that every member of the committee had told her, shortly after the incident, that "if it were them, they would resign and that’s all I had to do to make that go away."

She did not do so, as she said she had apologised to Deputy Leadbeater repeatedly and also to the Head of Law Enforcement Ruari Hardy. 

"I apologised if he felt that I had undermined the service, which was clearly not my intent," she said. "It is hard to know what more I could have done."

She said she had been given a "countdown" by Deputy Lowe after the social media matter, during which time she should "reflect on my position [on the committee]" and been put under pressure to make a decision over her future.

After she did not meet the 24-hour deadline given to her, which she claims was then shortened, fellow committee members Deputies Lowe, Leadbeater, Smithies and Le Pelley sought to invoke a little-used States rule to eject her from Home Affairs. 

Pictured: Deputy Oliver said she had apologised to Ruari Hardy for any offence caused.

Deputy Marc Leadbeater said that his colleague had launched a "vitriolic attack on my vice-presidency" on social media and had put out misinformation about his role with a local cannabis company in order to improve her own online profile. 

He said Deputy Oliver's claims about wanting to reform drug policy were inconsistent with her actions. 

"She has done nothing to try to bring about drug policy reform," he told the States. 

These comments were then countered by Deputy Rhian Tooley, who said Deputy Leadbeater had “personally denigrated” Deputy Oliver by alleging her comments were insincere and part of an election campaign. 

When it came to the vote, States members voted against the proposition to sack Deputy Oliver by 28 votes to 3.

Deputy Lowe voted to keep Deputy Oliver on Home Affairs; Deputy Oliver abstained; and Deputy Leadbeater voted to get rid of his now estranged colleague.

Pictured top: Deputies Marc Leadbeater, Mary Lowe and Victoria Oliver.