Complaint against Hampshire police and crime commissioner Donna Jones after she appeared on GB News with Nigel Farage is dismissed
A complaint made against Hampshire police and crime commissioner Donna Jones after she appeared on television channel GB News with Nigel Farage has been dismissed.
The complainant said the commissioner had breached two principles of the code of conduct – selflessness and objectivity.
The complaint was made to the Hampshire police and crime panel on 30th April, over the appearance with former Ukip leader and MEP Nigel Farage, writes Natalia Forero of the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
The complaint said: “GB News is not an impartial news channel and has, within less than two years of launching, been penalised by Ofcom, which has further investigations into GB News.
“[GB News] is commonly known to be a politically very right-leaning entertainment channel that does not itself purport to be a respectable, independent news channel.
“The PCC’s involvement reflects badly on her judgments and brings the wider police service’s political impartiality into disrepute.
“According to the Police and Crime commissioner’s code of conduct, her appearance on this TV channel has brought the office and the wider police service into disrepute (2.1.4 of the Code) and misused her role improperly for political purposes (2.1.7).”
The Hampshire and Isle of Wight Police and Crime Panel Complaints Sub-Committee presented the report after it had previously been deemed confidential.
Cllr Lesley Meenaghan, a former police officer herself, said: “High-profile politicians appear on GB News, and they don’t get removed.
“PCC Donna Jones is talking about the number of police in the country; she is there to talk about the number of policing.”
Chair of the PCP complaints sub-committee, David Stewart said: “I’m not hearing anything that tells me she’s breaching the principles. In fact, I thought she was very professional and contained in what she said.”
After deliberation, the committee agreed to close the complaint since there was no “substantial evidence” that indicated a failure of the code of conduct by Mrs Jones in her role of commissioner.
Mrs Jones said: “The outcome of this complaint speaks for itself. As an elected person, I appear on a wide range of news channels in order to represent the public. I am grateful to the panel for their time and consideration and for dismissing the complaint in a timely manner.”
