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Concerning an alleged contravention of The Councillors' Code of Conduct by Councillor Keith Brown of Clackmannanshire Council

1. Complaint number LA/C/124 alleged a contravention of the Councillors' Code of Conduct ("the Code") by Councillor Keith Brown (SNP) ("the respondent").

2. It was alleged that the respondent had contravened the Code, in particular, paragraph 3.14 which states that Councillors should respect the chair, their colleagues, Council employees and members of the public present within the Chamber during Council or Committee meetings or other formal proceedings of the Council; and that they must comply with rulings from the chair in the conduct of Council business.

3. The person complaining ("the complainant") is Councillor Samuel Ovens (LAB) who is Deputy Provost of the Council. When required, Councillor Ovens chairs meetings of Clackmannanshire Council. He complained about the conduct of Councillor Brown at Council meetings which were held on 19 August and 15 September 2004. The complainant said that on 19 August Councillor Brown refused to obey the chair, incited other councillors to do likewise and was obstructive to the business of the Council. Similarly, on 15 September he was offensive to the chair, refused to obey rulings and directions, incited others to behave likewise and refused to recognise the authority of the chair. The meetings attracted adverse comment in the local press.

4. Councillor Keith Brown is Leader of the SNP Group on the Council. Councillor Ovens is Deputy Provost in the Labour Administration. Councillor Ovens chaired the meetings of 19 August and 15 September 2004. A transcript and tape recordings of the meetings were considered during the course of the investigation. During the meeting of 19 August 2004, a report on a previous complaint which had been made against SNP councillors was considered. This, and the decision of the chair not to accept two motions by Councillor Brown, led to several cross-floor exchanges between Councillor Brown and Councillor Ovens throughout the meeting. These were in some cases protracted, with over twenty remarks being exchanged and comments such as, "what a surprise", "that's unbelievable", "flaming farce", being made by Councillor Brown. Councillor Brown and another SNP Councillor left the meeting before three remaining agenda items were concluded.

5. Councillor Ovens described the atmosphere at the meeting as tense, aggressive and discourteous. He felt that Councillor Brown's behaviour went beyond the bounds of fair comment; it was as is every item had to be highly charged and politicised. In his view, Councillor Brown did not obey rulings of the Chair, his actions were generally obstructive to the business of the Council and offensive to the Chair.

6. A Special Meeting of the Council on 15 September 2004 was called by the SNP to consider four motions put forward by Councillor Brown. One of these was a motion of no confidence in the Provost and Councillor Ovens was asked to take the Chair. In the course of the item, there again arose exchanges between Councillor Brown and Councillor Ovens. While Councillor Brown was speaking to his motion, the chair interjected to raise a point as to whether Councillor Brown was addressing his motion. Councillor Brown questioned why Councillor Ovens felt the need to keep interrupting him. Councillor Ovens said he would rule on relevancy, but Councillor Brown said he could rule as he liked and interrupt again, as he surely would.

7. There were requests for rulings from the Clerk on matters of competency. Councillor Ovens warned Councillor Brown that if he did not obey the ruling of the chair, the meeting would be asked to vote that Councillor Brown should not participate in any item on the Agenda. He said he was trying to be fair, but Councillor Brown was being obstructive. Following another exchange, the chair moved that Councillor Brown should not participate further, and the meeting was subsequently adjourned for 10 minutes. On resumption, there was some confusion as to what votes had been taken. The chair said he was moving to next business, but other SNP councillors challenged the chair as to whether they were going to be allowed to speak. There then followed a confused debate as to how to proceed under Standing Orders, which one SNP councillor called "Mickey Mouse" stuff. Councillor Brown and other SNP councillors left the chamber and the remaining items on the Agenda fell because the motions had no SNP proposers.

8. Councillor Ovens said there is a lack of courtesy between members and disregard for Standing Orders and protocols which is not restricted to SNP members. He had tried to tone this down; but he had found Councillor Brown's behaviour different. Although there was no verbal evidence of incitement, he said Councillor Brown sets the tone by his remarks and example.

9. Councillor Brown disputed that he refused to obey the chair, or that he was offensive and obstructive to Council business. He agreed there was heated debate and said the meetings of 19 August and 15 September 2004 were not typical; in fact they were the most heated for some years. At no time did he raise his voice, adopt an aggressive attitude, throw papers, threaten or use physical violence or abusive or foul language. He said that the allegation by Councillor Ovens that he had incited others had no basis in fact and Councillor Ovens had advanced no evidence to substantiate this.

10. On these occasions, I considered that Councillor Brown's actions in respect of both meetings went to the margins of acceptable behaviour. However, I noted that, for the most part, he ultimately complied with the rulings of the Chair. When the Chair moved the motion that he should not be allowed to contribute to the rest of the meeting and after this motion was carried, he effectively complied by (with colleagues) leaving the meeting. While acknowledging arguments which he put forward about the need for members of all parties to be treated with fairness by the Chair, this must be a two-way process and members need also to act in a fair and responsible way and to respect the position of the Chair.

11. I considered that Councillor Brown's actions stretched the tolerance of the Chair, but on the occasions in question I did not consider that, on balance, they could reasonably be taken to amount to a breach of the Code of Conduct and I accepted his position that his interventions and the exchanges which he had with the Chair were not characterised by foul or abusive language or other inappropriate activity. Moreover, he did ultimately comply with the rulings of the Chair, albeit after periods of considerable dialogue with the Chair. Given the difficulties which Councillor Ovens experienced in chairing the meetings, it is perhaps understandable that Councillor Brown's behaviour may well have seemed offensive to the Chair, but I did not believe that a reasonable and detached observer would describe it as such. Nor did I consider that Councillor Brown actively incited other SNP members to behave as he did. However, Councillor Brown should bear in mind that as Group Leader he will always be looked to for example, which may be good or bad, and he may influence others even when not intended.

12. In my view the events described in this report should act as a stimulation to the members of the Council to endeavour to engage in a more co-operative working relationship. It would be helpful if senior elected members, along with senior officers, could have discussions on ways in which this could be achieved, which might include specific training on the conduct of meetings as part of the Council's responsibilities in relation to corporate governance. This would require political will, and political goodwill, which would hopefully be to the ultimate benefit of the citizens of Clackmannanshire.

13. Having considered the information arising from my investigation, I concluded that Councillor Keith Brown had not contravened the Councillors' Code of Conduct.

D Stuart Allan,
Chief Investigating Officer.
Forsyth House
Innova Campus
Rosyth Europarc
Rosyth
Fife
KY11 2UU
10 May 2005