Three complaints against Douglas Lawson were upheld by a standards committee, which recommended his removal from his post. The commission heard how he considered himself “at war” with his fellow citizens. It was also heard how his response to being offered equality education was “hugely offensive” and how he had described the LGBT community as an “optional lifestyle group” like “necrophiliacs” and “herdsmen”. The investigation is the latest twist in an ongoing saga at Downham Market council, which has suffered a period of turmoil in recent years, with several councilors and staff resigning. The unrest dates back to the end of the first Covid lockdown in 2020, when the authority introduced controversial plans for social distancing and other changes to the market that gives the city its name. Mr Lawson said he disputed the commission’s findings, claiming its decision contained “legal inaccuracies” and would refer the documents to the Local Government Ombudsman. The investigation into Mr Lawson was carried out by West Norfolk Council, which oversees standards issues in smaller authorities in its area. It launched its investigation after three former councilors complained about comments Mr Lawson had made on social media and in emails in 2020. They included asking a woman who accused him of insulting her intelligence on social media: “Do you have any intelligence to insult?” Responding to a young man on Facebook, Mr Lawson posted: “I realize that biologically you are a young man of some community somewhere but not from Downham Market and with no particular links to Downham Market apart from some tenuous relative. have you ever had a job Are you old enough to be on Facebook?” And in an e-mail to fellow councillors, he described the LGBT community as an “optional lifestyle group” such as “Morris dancers, Wee Frees, Goths, necrophiles, herdsmen, Ipswich Town supporters, WI jam makers, ramblers etc. etc.”. The standards committee, which met on November 3 to discuss the report, also heard Mr Lawson refer to fellow councilors as ‘Dipstick’, ‘the beckoning beige dog’, ‘Tweedle Doo Doo’ and ‘Tweedle Dumber”. The report said:[Mr] Lawson believed he was at war and that his desired ends justified any means to achieve his war and campaign against the former secretary and those advisers he saw as opposed to him and/or his views.” He added that while Mr Lawson had ‘genuine concerns’, he ‘failed to follow the due process to properly raise those concerns, such as filing a complaint against the former employee, choosing instead to reach his own conclusions and forward them publicly in e-mails and social media posts.” The report said the investigator felt Mr Lawson had “continued to drift away from what he would consider acceptable” amid “the harsh and broken local politics”. The investigator was “disturbed” by Mr Lawson’s response to being offered equality training and said his language was “hugely offensive” and showed why there was a need for him to have attended the training. The report concluded that there were “numerous examples” of him making offensive comments to other councilors and members of the public. Mr Lawson did not attend the hearing. He provided an annotated copy of the investigator’s report with his comments. He denied making personal remarks about the employee and said he limited his comments to her professional capacity. He said he didn’t need equality training because he had received an “abundant amount”. Lawson said he did not breach the council’s code of conduct, adding: “The investigator did not comply with the brief, prior history of the case in relation to social media and my rights to free speech and freedom of expression.” The hearing panel described Mr Lawson’s behavior as “the type of behavior that will discourage others from running for public office”, adding that it “undermines local democracy as a whole”. He continued: “The kind of deplorable behavior demonstrated in these allegations has no place in local government.” The committee recommended that Downham Market Borough Council censure Mr Lawson and remove him from the post of deputy mayor and all committees to which he has been appointed. They also recommend that Mr. Lawson undergo ethics and standards training. Asked to comment on the committee’s findings, Mr Lawson said: “As the decision and recommendations appear to contain several legal failures, illegal choices and procedural flaws, the paperwork will be sent to the Local Ombudsman for review and assessment. “Therefore, it is not appropriate to make further observations at this juncture to avoid prejudicing the outcome.” An emergency council meeting has been called to discuss the recommendations on Tuesday 29 November. COUNCIL AT WAR In February this year, six councilors walked out of Downham Market Town Council in protest at the “bullying” they said they had faced at the start. City Clerk Elaine Oliver also resigned. That same month, the incumbent mayor, Jenny Groom, and her deputy, Jackie Westrop, also resigned and walked out of a dramatic council meeting. It came after a long-running row over how the council ran the market. Charlie Pyatt was elected mayor in May this year. Mr Lawson, who first joined the council in 2015, became its deputy.
