Dacorum Council: leaked report exposes 'sexism and intimidation'

A regional investigation was launched by the Liberal Democrats into the party’s group of Dacorum borough councillors after eight female councillors resigned in September.

The councillors who resigned had accused the council leader Cllr Adrian England of “failing to deal with allegations of bullying and harassment, including sexual harassment” made against his predecessor, Cllr Ron Tindall.

The Liberal Democrats confirmed yesterday (February 18) that Dacorum Borough Council’s current leader, Cllr England, had stepped down as the party’s group leader and will step down as council leader.

Cllr Adrian England The Local Democracy Reporting Service now understands that he was told to consider his position by a group of senior party officials who said they did not have confidence in his leadership.

As part of the Lib Dem’s investigation, an internal report was prepared by the panel, which has been seen by the Local Democracy Reporting Service. The report concluded that at least one councillor had a “justifiable” reason for resigning and that the reasons given by two other resignees were “appropriately evidenced”.

The new eight-page report found “numerous examples of a failure of leadership”, as well as “significant additional information and evidence consistent with allegations of sexism and misogyny” against Cllr Tindall from “multiple new sources”. The allegations against Cllr Tindall will now be investigated by the party’s national complaints process.

The investigation was launched following the councillors’ resignations, and allegations of sexual harassment against Cllr Tindall.

An independent report commissioned by Dacorum Borough Council had previously concluded that Cllr Tindall “made various misogynistic remarks which were completely inappropriate and disrespectful to women”, and concluded that he had “sexually harassed” a councillor who “didn’t feel comfortable being left alone in a room with him”.

But the council’s standards committee, which considered the report as part of its discussions, rejected the allegations against Cllr Tindall in a hearing held behind closed doors in October. Cllr Tindall denies all of the allegations.

Cllr England succeeded Cllr Ron Tindall as leader in May last year. Two councillors formally lodged anonymous complaints against Cllr Tindall, 80, in April 2024, shortly before he was replaced as leader by Cllr England.

Cllr Tindall told the Local Democracy Reporting Service he was “amazed” at the inquiry’s findings about him. He said: “I have no idea what all this additional information is about. I feel I have acted properly, and I am only sorry that Cllr England feels he had to resign.”

He added that he felt the investigation “should have concentrated on the totally disloyal rebellion of eight people who publicly resigned instead of going through the party machinery”.

Referring to the allegations against Cllr Tindall, and the findings of the council’s standards committee, the Lib Dem report says: “We are aware of recent allegations against one member of the Group and of the determination by Dacorum Borough Council Standards Committee at a recent hearing, that this individual did not breach the Councillor Code of Conduct.

"Since that hearing, significant additional information and evidence, from multiple new sources, has come to light as a result of the investigation, which we have reason to believe was not available to previous investigations, carried out on a narrower remit.

"As a result, the decision has been taken to submit a formal complaint against this individual for consideration by the party’s Federal Complaints Process.”

The new report claimed there was a “failure of leadership” that began under Cllr Tindall and continued under Cllr England. It reads: “The panel does not have confidence that … [Cllr] England is best placed to continue in his role, and believes he should consider his position. The group should then be given the opportunity to determine who is best placed to address such failures, via an extraordinary election.”

The resulting election led to Cllr Sally Symington, who was the Lib Dem parliamentary candidate for South West Herts in 2024, being elected as the group’s new leader. She will have to manage a group that is riven with conflict – and that no longer has a majority on the council.

The report said: “Interpersonal relationships have broken down within the group to the extent that they all now expect the worst in each other and, because of this, even minor differences of opinion frequently develop into major areas of conflict. Ongoing unresolved historical conflicts … have become major problems between individuals and within the wider group.”

“Weak” leadership led to “a failure to take action and deal with problems as and when they have arisen, instead leaving them to fester,” the report concluded. It found that WhatsApp messages and other communications between councillors “build a picture of bullying and harassment generally within the group”.

“In some cases, this has tipped over into intimidation”, it added. While the investigators concluded that there was not a problem with “widespread” misogyny in the group, they said comments had been made that could “legitimately be interpreted as sexist”.

The investigators also heard “testimony” about Cllrs Lara Pringle and Sheron Wilkie, who were among the eight councillors who resigned. The report said that testimony had “described their behaviour as controlling and akin to harassment”. Investigators did not come to a conclusion on whether their behaviour was “acceptable”, but referred the matter to the party’s national complaints process.

In a joint statement to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the two anonymous councillors who made the allegations about Cllr Tindall claimed Cllrs Pringle and Wilkie were being “scapegoated” for their “courage which threatened Adrian’s ‘leadership’". They added: “It is clear the investigation is far from over and the party continues to try to silence or diminish those who speak out.”

Cllr Pringle said the party’s handling of the women who resigned was “scandalous”. She said: “The way they have treated vulnerable complainants about sexual harassment is outrageous. It seems the party is angry that women spoke out at all. Who would speak out after the way the party has treated these women?”

Other recommendations made by the panel included reminding councillors to abide by the code of conduct, to use mediation to resolve conflict, and to provide training and mentoring for new councillors. It said that the Liberal Democrats East of England region should “consider what additional support could be provided to the Dacorum Liberal Democrats councillor group in the medium term”.

There is a full meeting of Dacorum Borough Council later today (Wednesday, February 19). Although Cllr Symington is now leader of the Liberal Democrat group, a new leader of the council will have to be elected by councillors of all parties after Cllr England formally resigns as council leader.

Cllr Sammy Barry-Mears, one of the women who resigned the group whip last year, said: “This lengthy process is still not over. I have hope the new leadership will focus on reconciliation and will offer much deserved apologies to us who they ignored for months.” 

She said she remains a Liberal Democrat and that Liberal Democrat values are why she “couldn’t – and still won’t – be led by those covering up sexual harassment and bullying. Now, it’s time for the Dacorum group to return to those values.”

Cllr England declined to comment.

What did the report find?

Council leadership

• “The group did not make the transition from opposition to running the administration well. This exposed weaknesses, including a weakness in leadership, as well as problems and splits among the individual members of the group that were more easily managed in opposition.”
• “As a group of Liberal Democrat councillors they did not seem to have any common purpose or unity, objectives or goals, and to some extent this is still the case. They did not appear to have ‘set the direction of travel.”
• “One of our main findings is that there has been a failure of leadership. The group has suffered from poor leadership, and this has continued despite a change of leader.”
• “A common theme raised by the several of the individuals we interviewed was that there was a lack of effective leadership in the group.”
• “There have been a number of incidents that, taken in isolation, could have been resolved, but because of ongoing unresolved historical conflicts they have become major problems between individuals and within the wider group.”

Group culture

• “There have been various forms of inappropriate behaviour by a number of individuals and several of the individuals we interviewed gave credible accounts of the problems they have experienced, supported by social media and email evidence.”
• “It has been acknowledged that some ‘mansplaining’ has occurred in meetings.”
• “We have heard credible evidence of examples of inappropriate language and of behaviour which has made others uncomfortable.”
• “Several of the members of the group who were elected in 2023 have said they soon noticed that there seemed to be divisions in the group.”
• “To some extent there … appears to be a geographical split between the different areas of the borough, especially between Tring and Berkhamsted, and Hemel Hempstead.”
• “There has not been any attempt to set boundaries, or to properly moderate the WhatsApp group. Several members of the group reported that there were often messages making accusations and allegations … because of this, several members of the group have left the WhatsApp groups.”
• “There was … no information given to the new councillors about how the Liberal Democrats work, or information on our processes and procedures, their relationship with the local party, or region. This meant that when individuals encountered problems, they did not know who to go to with their wider concerns.”
• “Many have complained about individuals talking over fellow members in [group] meetings, and that the meetings are very adversarial.”