Ombudsman’s office not guilty of bias despite ‘F… the Tories’ social media post

A review launched after the head of investigations at the Welsh Ombudsman’s office was exposed for posting social media messages including “Fxxx the Tories” has concluded that the body was not guilty of political bias.

In March this year Nation.Cymru revealed how Sinead Cook had posted a series of politically contentious messages using pseudonyms. Within days she had resigned her job at the office of the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales (PSOW).

Ms Cook ran an X account under the pseudonym @SweetlittleSewandsew. She also posted messages using the aliases Schnade Cee and Smoogi Cookster.

Using her @SweetlittleSewandsew account, Ms Cook wrote: “While we are all debating what GL [Gary Lineker] said in talking about the boycott of MOTD [Match of the Day], we are not talking about the fact the Government is trying to pass a Bill which is incompatible with the Human Rights Act and morally reprehensible. F*** the Tories [spelt out].”

Other posts by Ms Cook include a response to someone who had written: “Seeing far too many Vote Conservative signs for my liking. How can anyone with a conscience still vote for them?”. @SweetlittleSewandsew said: “I’ve come to the conclusion that people are just too stubborn to admit they were wrong, so double down. It’s bonkers.”

Responding to a post from the then Bridgend Tory MP Jamie Wallis in which he said: “I am actively seeking a seat elsewhere with a sense of humour and a philosophical view, @SweetlittleSewandsew wrote: “If the people of Bridgend didn’t have a sense of humour, he would never have been elected. He’s a joke.”

Political bias

Other tweets by @SweetlittleSewandsew that showed political bias include:

* Gimme an E, gimme an N, gimme a T, gimme an I, gimme a T, gimme an L, gimme an E, gimme a D, what does it spell Boris Johnson;

* @jeremycorbyn as leader of @UKLabour is an honest return to party roots and offers a genuine alternative to @Conservatives:

* [During lockdown]. People in Wales can still go out. Instead of worrying about Wales speak to your Tory buddies about feeding kids in England;

* [Referring to former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell]. She’s a Tory Stan. Geri has always been an awful human being. She was spouting Tory nonsense back in the 90s. She and Posh were anti Europe (although I think a remainer now) and royalist.

Neil McEvoy

Two of her posts related to former Senedd Member Neil McEvoy. One, a message to former Cardiff Labour councillor Siobhan Corria shortly after Mr McEvoy lost his Senedd seat, said: “I hope NM gets the message and decides to foxtrot Oscar.” [f*** off].

The other, also to Ms Corria, referred to Mr McEvoy’s political party as Repel instead of Propel, adding: “They got 600 votes in Bridgend which is 600 to [sic] many IMO.”

A number of politicians, including the then Tory Secretary of State for Wales David TC Davies, accused the PSOW of discriminating against non-Labour councillors who were under investigation, and called for the body to be disbanded and replaced.

The Ombudsman, Michelle Morris, decided to commission an independent review to see whether her office was operating in a fair and unbiased manner. At first she appointed London barrister James Goudie KC, but he stood down after it emerged that he had past connections with the Labour Party.

Fair

The review was then undertaken by Dr Melissa McCullough, the Commissioner for Standards for the Northern Ireland Assembly, who has now reported that PSOW’s decision making has been “appropriate, fair and free from political bias”.

Some 673 individual complaints were reviewed, including 89 that were handled by Ms Cook, referred to as the former code of conduct team manager (FCTM).

Dr McCullough’s review stated that a theme which emerged from the inquiry was the respect code of conduct team members had for the FCTM, the work that she did, her professionalism and the support she provided to those she managed.

One colleague said: “We’d often have chats about cases if I was finding it difficult, and she was always, I thought, really professional and full of knowledge, so it was always really helpful to chat through things with her. I never thought anything other than she’s assessing this against the code of conduct and our two-stage test, ever.”

Another team member said: “Yes, I mean, she took such pride in what she did. She loved her job. She was exemplary in terms of being a manager, and supportive and promoting the work we do.

She clearly took a lot of pride in it and working for the organisation.“

A third colleague said: “If she felt that there was an exchange worth a discussion, she would welcome that discussion. She wasn’t seeking to impose her view on you. She wanted to understand your opinion, and for us to reach the right decision based on that, so I think that’s an important point worth making.

“She felt passionately about doing it the right way, and so I’d be very surprised if any evidence does come to light of political bias … she would’ve done anything to make sure that nothing within work could impact the integrity of the process, or the decisions that we make.“

Impact

The review states: “The impact on the PSOW and its staff was mentioned by many members of the code team. They spoke about the negative impact this incident has had on them, their work and on the reputation of the PSOW.”

Ms Cook herself was interviewed after the case review was complete. The review states: “[It] was not in the scope of this review to investigate the incident or the FCTM in relation to the posts she made. However, the review felt it would be entirely appropriate to invite the FCTM to speak to the lead reviewer to provide any information she felt relevant to the review, if she wished to do so; we are grateful that she engaged with the review.

“The FCTM stated that this was the first time she had formally spoken to anyone about the details of the incident.

“The FCTM said that she is not very political and doesn’t lean towards any political party; rather, she has strong personal views about policy issues and the impact policies have on people.

“The review learned that the FCTM implemented unconscious bias training for the PSOW, and further delivered the decision-making induction module to staff which included the topics of confirmation bias, conscious and unconscious bias, and personal bias, all of which were endorsed by the PSOW. She also said that she discussed these topics with her team regularly, including the importance of applying the code and not personal biases about the members or their political parties. She also said she recognised the importance of the will of the electorate, regardless of her own views and would often remind her team of this.

“The FCTM said that she had declared interests, as required by PSOW relating to her personal relationships with friends who had political affiliations. She said that if any complaints were received which related to those people, she declared an interest and did not deal in any detail with that casework.

“The FCTM said she was ‘heartbroken’ that anything she could have done could have damaged the reputation of the office. She said she had worked very hard for the organisation for 15 years and was good at her job.”

Personal views

The review stated it had “found no evidence that the FCTM expressed her personal views on political matters ‘akin to her social media posts’ in the office and/or inappropriately influenced other staff members, in the performance of their duties under the Local Government Act 2000.”

It concluded that this should provide reassurance to the public that they can have trust and confidence in the work of the PSOW and its code of conduct team. It states: “The PSOW’s code of conduct processes and delegations are robust, in terms of safeguarding, fairness and impartiality. They are systematic, well documented and supplemented with appropriate guidance and the reasoning for decisions is required to be recorded and explained, as applicable.

“All decision-making is based solely on evidence, facts, and solid, well-articulated reasoning and, as such, there was no evidence of political bias. The case review found no evidence that the decision-making on any of the cases reviewed was influenced by any political affiliation of the person who made the complaint and/or the member [councillor] who was complained about.

Ms Morris responded: “The PSOW welcomes this report and the confirmation that decision making, in respect of code of conduct complaints, is free from political bias.

“This review recognises the excellent work done by the code of conduct team and we are pleased that the independent reviewer has stated that it should provide reassurance, to the public and elected members, that they can trust and have confidence in the work of PSOW.

“All the recommendations are accepted, and the lessons learned will be used to further strengthen internal policies and practices, recruitment, and training.”