Councillor husband of Lucy Connolly investigated by the authority
We exclusively report the West Northants unitary has appointed an independent investigator to determine whether Cllr Ray Connolly breached the code of conduct
By Sarah Ward
We often have exclusive stories about Northants. Sign up for our free posts.
The councillor husband of convicted racist Lucy Connolly is under a code of conduct investigation by West Northamptonshire Council for comments he made in defence of his wife.
The authority’s monitoring officer, Sarah Hall, has instructed an independent investigator from law firm Bevan Brittan to decide whether Cllr Ray Connolly, has breached the code of conduct for public comments he made in the aftermath of his wife’s arrest for stirring up racial hatred online.
Lucy Connolly, 41, who was a registered childminder, made a social media post on July 29, the day three girls were murdered at a community hall in Southport, inciting people to violence.
She wrote:
“ . . set fire to all the f**king hotels full of the bastards for all I care, while you’re at it take the treacherous government and politicians with them. I feel physically sick knowing what these families will now have to endure. If that makes me racist so be it.”
In the days and weeks after the Southport killings there were riots across the country, with migrant hotels targeted.
Connolly was arrested on August 8 and last month was sentenced to 31 months in prison.
Cllr Connolly, who represents the Delapre and Rushmere ward, made a number of public statements after his wife’s arrest including that she ‘is a good person and not a racist.’
The authority has not said how many complaints have been made about the matter, but NN Journal is aware many people, including some councillors, had taken issue with what they saw as Cllr Connolly's defence of his wife's action.
The investigator will now look at what has been said and inform the councillor of the investigation. If they find that he has breached the code of conduct, the monitoring officer can decide to send the matter to a hearings committee, which is a sub committee of the authority’s standards and democracy committee.
That committee could then interview Cllr Connolly and if they think he is in breach of the code, a number of sanctions could be imposed including being removed from any committees and being ordered to offer a full apology to the council.
He cannot be removed as a councillor or have his allowance taken away. All councillors who sit on the authority receive a basic allowance of more than £15,000 per year.
NN Journal has contacted Cllr Connolly, but has not had a response.
His wife has now been in prison for more than four months, as she was not granted bail after her arrest. Her husband has been sharing photos of her in prison on his social media feed to friends. She has become somewhat of a martyr for free speech commentators on social media since her imprisonment and is regularly referenced.
A West Northamptonshire Council spokesperson said:
“I’m afraid we are unable to disclose any information in relation to confidential matters concerning councillors.”
If you are new to NN Journal, we are an independent news provider, publishing original news about Northants. We are funded entirely by our readers, so if you think local journalism is important, you can support us by taking out a subscription. £6 per month, or less for an annual sub. Thanks
Congratulations on another exclusive scoop! You provide an invaluable service to our community.
In a letter to The Times yesterday Baroness Stowell, Chair of the Lords Communications and Digital Committee wrote "Journalism is often about making everyday life better. Scaling back of local newspaper and radio journalism means too many local decisions happen without scrutiny. Some councils have taken to barring journalists from public meetings, and police forces make reporters sign non-disclosure agreements before talking to them. Power without scrutiny is dangerous. And while online neighbourhood forums are springing up, they're no substitute for professional local journalism."
Excellent work as usual. Disgraceful that people see Ms Connolly as a martyr.