Party suspends Deputy Le Tissier for six months

Sunday 07 March 2021

Deputy Chris Le Tissier has been suspended by the Guernsey Party following an internal investigation into his social media behaviour, which they say has "brought the party into disrepute".

This afternoon's statement marks the first time that the party has taken a stance on their member's actions on Twitter, which saw him troll other deputies, criticise people for being "non-local" and pose as a member of the public, rather than an elected official, while tweeting under a pseudonym.

Following an investigation by Express into reports that Deputy Le Tissier was 'The Pirate @Radiosutch299', the five-month deputy owned up on Thursday afternoon. 

At the time, the Guernsey Party said it was "investigating" what had happened. Since Thursday, code of conduct complaints have been lodged against Deputy Le Tissier and both Home Affairs and the Development & Planning Authority have asked him to recuse himself from committee meetings throughout the independent investigation process.

This week, the Guernsey Party made its own Twitter page private in response to people "attack[ing] every single tweet of ours with vitriol", according to the group. People have been waiting with interest to see how the party would handle its member's conduct.

"The Guernsey Party has concluded an internal code of conduct investigation into recent public allegations of misconduct by Deputy Le Tissier," said a spokesman this afternoon. 

Pictured: The Guernsey Party's principles state that members must be truthful and should set an example with their behaviour. 

"Although Deputy Le Tissier's activities were personal and did not involve or represent the Party, the Committee has concluded that his conduct fell below the standard expected by The Guernsey Party and brought the Party into disrepute. Deputy Le Tissier has been suspended from the Party for six months with immediate effect."

Deputy Le Tissier has apparently "volunteered to undertake social media use training".

With one confirmed code of conduct complaint against Deputy Le Tissier, others being drafted and the deputy himself self-referring to the complaints panel on the request of political colleagues, the walls appear to be closing in on the newly-elected deputy.

However, as things stand, Deputy Le Tissier retains his voting rights in the States of Deliberation, which is next set to meet on 17 March. 

Despite issuing an "apology" on Thursday, he has denied "trolling" anyone and has sought to explain months of subversive tweets since his election to the States as an "uncharacteristic lapse of judgement".

There are three stages to the Code of Conduct Complaints process. The first stage focusses on whether the complaint has any substance.

The States Members' Code of Conduct states that: "Members shall at all times conduct themselves in a manner which will tend to maintain and strengthen the public’s trust and confidence in the integrity of the States of Deliberation and never undertake any action which would bring the States, or its Members generally, into disrepute."

Should the complaint/complaints be substantiated, the panel will then decide on what it sees as the most appropriate form of censure.

The options range in severity from a caution, to outright expulsion from the States of Guernsey.