Health president to back St Pier suspension

The president of Guernsey's Committee for Health and Social Care (HSC) has said he will vote to suspend Deputy Gavin St Pier for 25 days.

Dr George Oswald's deputy, Aidan Matthews, however, indicated he would vote against the motion to suspend the former chief minister.

Politicians will decide whether to suspend St Pier later this week, with a proposal of suspending him without pay also set to be considered.

It follows the commissioner for standards and the appeals commissioner finding St Pier had broken the States code of conduct during a phone call with a journalist from The Guardian, where he discussed a story regarding safeguarding concerns and Dr Sandie Bohin.

The spat between St Pier and Dr Bohin emerged in public when he mentioned her name during a speech in April 2022 in the States, as the lead doctor for safeguarding in Guernsey in a speech about concerns around the system on the island.

St Pier was found to have broken the States' code of conduct and formally reprimanded, but he was not found to have abused parliamentary privilege.

This latest complaint stems from a phone call St Pier had with a journalist at The Guardian newspaper, where he discussed cases dealt with by Dr Bohin.

Dr Bohin then received an e-mail from the journalist, which she said contained "defamatory" allegations, and submitted a complaint the commissioner for standards alleging St Pier had broken the code of conduct.

The commissioner for standards, Dr Melissa McCullough, judged St Pier had breached six parts of the code and, after an appeal, it was recommended he should be suspended from the States for 25 days.

Dr Bohin previously said she did not believe the States would back the punishment recommended by SACC.

HSC Vice-president Aidan Matthews said he could not support the suspension, as he believed St Pier had already been punished on this matter.

He added he was concerned accepting this judgement would make the job of a deputy more difficult, as he believed it was part of the role to take concerns from the public and talk to the media about them.

Dr Oswald confirmed he would be voting for the suspension and speaking out about why he was voting that way during the debate.

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