Last night Lib Dem HQ finally suspended Councillor Ryan Hope, the Lib Dem councillor for Westham North on Weymouth & Portland Borough Council.
Councillor Hope is facing several serious charges for sexual offences including one count of raping a child, one count of rape, one of sexual assault of a child and two counts of sexual assault. Councillor Hope denies the charges.
Last October, South Dorset Labour wrote to the leader of South Dorset Liberal Democrats, Councillor Ian Roebuck, questioning whether it was appropriate for Councillor Hope to continue in his elected role while facing such serious allegations. Councillor Roebuck described the allegations as “nonsense” and expressed confidence that Councillor Hope would be exonerated, dismissing any talk of Councillor Hope resigning or being suspended.
More recently, the Liberal Democrats nationally have had high-profile members including Lord Rennard and Mike Hancock MP facing allegations of sexual misconduct. In both cases, the national party took action, and suspended those involved while investigations were conducted.
This week, the Chair of South Dorset Labour wrote to Nick Clegg’s office questioning why Councillor Hope was able to continue in his role while facing such serious charges when others in the party had been very publicly suspended. The response from Liberal Democrat HQ was – almost unbelievably – that South Dorset Lib Dems had not even made them aware of the case.
In a statement, Nick Clegg’s office said:
“These are extremely serious allegations. Councillor Hope has been suspended both as a Liberal Democrat member and as a councillor pending the outcome of his trial.
This should have happened last year, but a failure to communicate the situation from the local party to the national party meant this did not happen.”
Last autumn, South Dorset Lib Dems leader – Councillor Roebuck – was bullish in his defence of Councillor Hope, and took a very clear public position to back his councillor. Last night he had “no comment” to make. Yet the verdict from Liberal Democratic HQ is clear. Councillor Hope should have been suspended by the local party, but instead it “failed” to even communicate what was a very serious situation, and to take advice.
Whatever the outcome of Councillor Hope’s case (and we must remember that he has yet to face trial, and has consistently denied the charges,) this sorry story raises profound concerns about the judgement and leadership shown by Councillor Ian Roebuck, and his deputy Councillor Gill Taylor.
That is not just the view of South Dorset Labour – it appears to also be the view of Nick Clegg’s office.
Simon Bowkett
