One of Labour’s bumper class of 2024, Jas Athwal would have been lost on the backbenches were it not for a dubious honour he earned early in his parliamentary career: the MP for Ilford South is now the biggest landlord in the House of Commons. News of Athwal’s 15 rental properties piqued journalists’ interest – what kind of landlord is Athwal? The dirt the BBC dug up was not metaphorical – nor the ants and black mould.

Athwal received a slap on the wrist from Keir Starmer, who called the condition of Athwal’s flats “unacceptable”. Athwal defied calls to stand down, however, saying he was “profoundly sorry”, promising to reimburse affected tenants and insisting he had ditched his letting agent. Questioned on rumours that he has no letting agent, instead managing the properties amongst family members, Athwal declined to comment on the record – though sources close to him denied the claims. He has yet to identify his former letting agent. In his maiden speech delivered in parliament on Tuesday, Athwal said his mission was “to ensure that families [in Ilford South] can find a welcoming home” – “presumably one he doesn’t own,” tweeted Spectator journalist James Heale.

Despite promising to clean up his act, just three weeks following the BBC exposé Athwal found himself in the headlines again: several of the nurseries he owns were previously found to have breached child safety standards. This time Labour leapt to Athwal’s defence, saying the complaints against his nurseries had been resolved and that Ofsted now rates them “good”.

Following the BBC report on the state of Athwal’s properties, a cross-party group of local residents has called into question the legitimacy of the recent election result “due to residents being unaware of Jas Athwal’s lack of legally required landlord licences and the substandard condition of his rental properties”. In mid-October, the group went to Number 10 to demand that Keir Starmer investigate him. This is highly unlikely to happen.

Under Starmer, Labour has developed a high tolerance for candidates’ bad behaviour in the name of ensuring ideological conformity. Athwal’s immunity to scandal extends long past his becoming an MP, however.

For 13 years prior to the general election, Athwal was the Labour opposition leader, then leader, of Redbridge council on the border of London and Essex. During that time he accelerated the breakneck rise of a former student politician named Wes Streeting, who by 2014 and at the age of just 31 had become Athwal’s deputy, and within a year was elected to parliament to represent Ilford North. He also introduced a property licensing scheme but did not enrol 12 of his own eligible properties in it (in a statement to the BBC, Athwal said he’d understood his property licences were up to date, but had “recently seen an email which shared that licences are due to expire” and was “in the process of renewing all licences”).

Those who know Athwal from his Redbridge days described him to Novara Media as a ruthless political operator “prepared to do anything to get where he wants to get”. They said Athwal ruled the council with an iron fist and pursued his enemies with total determination. Yet despite complaints about his conduct and a series of resignations, Labour left Athwal in post – including during an internal investigation into serious sexual assault.

In 2019, Athwal was accused of assaulting another Labour member (he denies this). Streeting called the allegations against his friend a “stitch-up” intended to clear the way for pro-Corbyn candidate Sam Tarry, who went on to win the selection and subsequent election. The case ended in 2020 with what Athwal claims was his absolution. Is this true? Several people with knowledge of the case say it isn’t. They say Athwal’s disciplinary case collapsed due to a lack of evidence – despite an independent legal advisor saying there was a case to answer.

Now a freshly minted parliamentarian with friends in high places, several of Athwal’s current and former Labour colleagues are concerned that his chequered past is being brushed under the carpet. “I think there’s a great deal of justifiable concern about him,” one person involved in the governance of the Labour party during the time of Athwal’s disciplinary case told Novara Media. “I really do.”

Celebrity lawyers.

In 2019, Athwal – who by this point had had his sights on a seat in parliament – was informed that he was under investigation for alleged “serious” sexual assault. The news was delivered to Athwal shortly before a meeting at which the Labour party’s parliamentary candidates would be decided, and meant he was unable to stand. Athwal and his allies claimed a “stitch-up”.

The allegations dated to 2012, when Athwal was said to have seriously sexually assaulted a council colleague at the annual Labour party conference in Manchester. The party’s national executive committee (NEC), which at the time was dominated by leftwingers, gathered to decide whether to formally investigate the case. Following standard Labour party practice, panellists were not told the identity of the person whose case they were considering – although at least one told Novara Media they knew. An independent legal advisor hired by the party to support the panel’s decision-making concluded that Athwal had a case to answer. Labour opened an investigation.

The NEC passed the case on to the national constitutional committee (NCC). While the NEC governs the party’s overall direction, finances, candidates and policies, the NCC is the party’s disciplinary body, helping to resolve disputes and rule breaches. Its bureaucratic function means it is comprised of less public-facing individuals than the NEC, has less of a political bent and is more risk-averse.

The NCC examined Athwal’s case in 2020. By that point, he had instructed lawyers at Mishcon De Reya, an elite law firm and specialist in reputation management. According to someone involved in Labour governance at the time, the alleged victim’s lawyers were “not terribly well-prepared … [they] hadn’t done enough work” – no match for the “aggressive … celebrity lawyers” Athwal had hired.

The NCC heard Athwal’s case for four days. Novara Media understands that the panel concluded it lacked sufficient evidence to deliver a verdict, and closed the case. Speaking to Novara Media, a source with knowledge of the disciplinary process suggested that the NCC was worried about facing legal action from Athwal and his expensive lawyers had it expelled him. After the case closed, Athwal told the Guardian that he had been “cleared” by the NCC, adding in his tell-all profile that the case had made him contemplate suicide.

“Athwal wasn’t cleared of wrongdoing,” a source involved in Labour party governance at the time told Novara Media. “There was a unanimous feeling that [the NCC panel] didn’t have enough evidence.”

Though suspended by the party for the duration of the nine-month investigation, and though his position as leader of Redbridge council flowed directly from his membership of the council’s ruling party, Labour’s hands were somewhat tied with Athwal – it could not remove him from post, only his fellow councillors could. All it could do was attempt to influence the local party to act – which it did, to no avail.

Kat Fletcher, a mid-ranking officer in the Labour party’s London regional office, called deputy leader Kam Rai to discuss Athwal’s position. In the call, Fletcher told Rai that Labour councillors risked facing disciplinary action themselves if they allowed Athwal to remain in post. Rai refused. “I commend Kam for standing by a friend like that,” said one Redbridge councillor. “They closed ranks and protected each other.”

“The whole atmosphere was that he was innocent and [the disciplinary case didn’t] matter until his name was cleared,” said someone who was a Labour councillor at the time. “When you’ve got as many supporters as [Athwal] had then, it’s not difficult to do, really. If you’d stood out and said ‘Look, I think you should stand down, you would be marginalised.’”

“It’s a bit odd, really, because … you’re only the leader [of the council] by virtue of being the leader of the Labour group … he seemed to get away with that one.”

“How can you leave someone in-post who’s accused of sexual misconduct? … Any school would’ve pulled a teacher immediately,” said Andy Walker, a former Redbridge councillor and member of the campaign to investigate Athwal over his conduct as a landlord. “It wasn’t a child in question, but he was in a position of power and he [was accused of] abusing that power. He should’ve been suspended.”

“I thinks it’s [an] appalling point that anyone who’s been accused of serious sexual misconduct should remain as leader,” a source who was at the time a senior Labour party official told Novara Media. “I was horrified when I saw he continued as leader of council, and even more horrified when he became a member of the NEC and then an MP.”

Though the allegations came as a shock to Athwal and his allies, they did not to many within the council. Rather, they seemed to fit a pattern of “bullying” and even “cruel” conduct. Nor were they surprised that Redbridge councillors let Athwal continue to lead the council – he had his fellow councillors, and according to some sources still has them, under his thumb.

Redbridge Ltd.

“I am a businessman.” This was not how Rosa Gomez, a newly elected Labour councillor, had expected Jas Athwal to introduce himself to her in 2018. Athwal was well-known locally as a property tycoon and business owner – but was he not first and foremost the leader of the council? Apparently not: “I am a businessman, and I am a politician,” he told her.

Born to a Sikh family in Punjab, northwest India, Athwal’s father moved to the UK in the 1960s to work in a Ford factory in Dagenham. Athwal and his mother followed a few years later. Jas arrived in the UK aged seven, speaking no English. “We had nothing,” Athwal told a local reporter in 2019, “my dad got work in a tin factory and I helped my mum at home sewing ties after school to help make ends meet.” Though Sikhism has no caste system, informal hierarchies operate – and the Athwals were not near the top. “That drove him to be successful – [and] he wanted people to know he was,” one Redbridge councillor told Novara Media. “He was very keen to proclaim his successes,” said one Redbridge councillor. “He talked extensively about how successful his children were.” Athwal spent his adult life securing what he described as “a better future for our family”, accumulating a large property portfolio as well as several nurseries. Watson described him as having “the air of somebody who has got money and doesn’t need to make friends”.

Politics is a relatively recent interest of Athwal’s. He joined Labour a few months before standing as a councillor – he had previously flirted with the Tories, but decided he’d have a better chance of getting elected with Labour. “His background was right-of-centre – he was a self-made man amassing a property portfolio,” a Redbridge councillor told Novara Media. “People [like Athwal] choose to stand for parties to get elected … rather [than] because they support [a party’s] views. To attempt to influence the agenda.”

Regardless of his political convictions, by October the following year Athwal had staged a successful coup to become leader of the opposition Labour group. How to account for Athwal’s vertiginous rise through the council ranks? A charismatic bordering on “braggadocious” character, as one former Labour councillor described him to Novara Media, Athwal had a knack for garnering councillors’ support by promising them committee and cabinet positions. In return, he received a coterie of loyal councillors who would wave through his decisions. “He’s very good at manipulating people,” said Helen Watson, who until recently chaired the Woodford Green branch of the local Labour party.

Athwal’s programme broadly mirrored that of Labour councils around the country. He advanced modest policies on things like education, crime and housing – in 2019 the council pledged to build 600 affordable homes by 2022, though built just 96. He favoured showy construction projects over unglamorous maintenance work, pouring £11m into leisure projects including several new swimming pools while threatening to close youth centres and pleading poverty to residents begging for the repair of Broadmead Road Bridge, a major traffic artery. “The lido [project] in Valentines Park suddenly appeared out of nowhere,” said one Redbridge councillor. “Suddenly Jas produced it … It’s not quite clear what the demand for that lido is.”

Athwal’s managerial approach – he left in his wake a series of unactioned action plans and dead-end projects, as well as a deficit of £33m – left colleagues with a sense that at the heart of his leadership was personal ambition rather than political vision. “To me, Jas has no politics,” one former Labour councillor told Novara Media. “His only politic was to be an MP.” Another Redbridge councillor suggested his politics were “at best Cameron Tory”.

Despite the administration’s relative inaction in the community, Labour’s majority swelled under Athwal. This was partly a reflection of national disenchantment with the Tory party, partly due to changing local demographics as the Greater London suburb absorbed the overspill of the capital’s housing crisis, diluting support for the Conservatives. In 2010, following an eight-year Conservative majority, Labour broke through to become the governing party in Redbridge. By the time Athwal was elected to parliament, Labour held 58 out of 63 council seats.

Those close to Athwal say he ran Redbridge more like a business than a local authority – one ex-councillor recalls Athwal, his deputy Kam Rai and then-council CEO describing Redbridge as “the business”. If Redbridge was the business, Athwal was the boss – and made no secret of enjoying the status attached to his position.

At a 2022 fundraiser Athwal hosted in his garden for the party’s local election campaign, he ran a raffle. The first prize was tea with him. Gomez won and opted for the second prize, a barbecue set. Athwal would often take personal credit for the council’s achievements: “He always talks about things in the singular,” said one Redbridge councillor. “‘I’ this, ‘I’ that.” In 2021, a new stand at the Woodford Town FC grounds was named after Athwal. Redbridge Life, the quarterly council magazine distributed to every home in the borough, was covered with photographs of him. Labour group meetings were mostly taken up with long leader’s reports, with Athwal holding forth for up to an hour. “It was a one-way street,” said the Redbridge councillor. “It’s more like listen to the headmaster.”

If some said Athwal ran Redbridge as a business, this councillor offered a different metaphor: “[It was] a bit like a medieval court,” they told Novara Media. “There’s him at the top, and [deputy leader] Kam Rai, making most of the decisions … and there’s quite a lot of people on the backbenches that aren’t involved a great deal at all.”

Six of Athwal’s former colleagues said he controlled almost every aspect of the council’s operations. “[Athwal] would decide what questions [councillors] could raise [in meetings],” Kabir Mahmud, an independent Redbridge councillor since Labour suspended him in November 2022, told Novara Media. “Pre-planned questions would be agreed by the whip and the leader.” Another former colleague of Athwal’s recalls being told that all questions had to first go through the leader for approval.

Elsewhere, Athwal and his deputies would pressure councillors to act how he wanted. In 2018, Labour councillor Aziz Choudhury claimed that chief whip Roy Emmett had pressured planning chairman Bert Jones to approve the extension of a Muslim community centre’s opening hours. “[The chairman] and the centre have supported Labour candidates… I’d be grateful if you could do your best,” Emmett wrote to Jones. An internal investigator subsequently ruled the email “thoughtless and unwise” but said that Emmett had been acting in a party-political rather than an official capacity and that his actions were therefore lawful.

Councillors who attempted to openly influence policy were quietly sidelined or directly reprimanded. After being elected in 2022, making her Redbridge Labour’s only Black councillor, Shanell Johnson set about making her presence felt. She submitted four motions to a Labour group meeting in September. She received an email from local Labour activist Richard Angell – a friend of Athwal’s, Angell was then secretary of the Redbridge Campaigns Forum (LCF) – calling her into a meeting with himself and Labour councillor Sahdia Warraich at 8pm the following Sunday. Johnson assumed the pair had been sent by Athwal.

In the nearly three-hour meeting, Angell told Johnson that she must have been frustrated and angry to have submitted so many motions to the Labour group. Johnson was shocked – she had thought raising motions was a normal, even expected, part of her work as a councillor. When on another occasion Johnson attempted to raise a question about knife crime in a council meeting, she received an anonymous complaint saying she was embarrassing the council.

In an email to Novara Media, Angell, now chief executive of the Terence Higgins Trust, said “I was categorically not ‘dispatched’ by Jas Athwal, nor anyone else”, but had “reached out to Shanell, having seen the motions she submitted” since he “wanted to help her be a successful Labour councillor”. Asked how he as a non-councillor had sight of motions submitted to a private Labour group meeting, Angell said: “As the secretary of the LCF … I receive[d] information on workings of the Labour group. This is very normal practice in the Labour party.”

Like Johnson, Gomez had entered the council in 2018 assuming it was a democracy. She applied to chair committees where she felt she had relevant skills and experience; a Labour member since 1975 and a longtime campaigner for social justice in her native Colombia, she felt she was more than qualified for several. She wasn’t even considered as a candidate. Only later did Gomez discover that the heads of all committees were handpicked by Athwal. “I didn’t know that I first had to have a meeting with him,” she told Novara Media.

Johnson, Gomez and their colleagues discovered that Athwal did not like being challenged (though this is a characterisation Angell says he does not recognise). In 2018, Athwal removed the sole opposition councillor from a health scrutiny committee; “there is nothing political about this,” Athwal claimed at the time. In 2022, Athwal did away with scrutiny committees altogether, replacing them with policy development committees.

By December last year, less than two years since her election, Johnson had had enough – she quit Labour and became an independent. Her resignation letter was leaked. Addressed to Athwal, it described a “toxic” atmosphere “marked by a lack of openness and a discouraging environment for critical discussion” and the expectation of “unquestioning compliance”, with “cabinet members put in place via email directions with everyone too fearful to question the lack of a democratic process”. Johnson accused the Redbridge Labour group of having an “ego-centric leadership style” and “top-down leadership”. The finger was quite clearly pointed at Athwal.

“If you agreed with him, [the council was] participatory,” one Redbridge councillor told Novara Media. “If you didn’t, there were issues. He didn’t like anyone challenging him.”

“I think he’s one of a group of people who’ve turned Redbridge into a weaponised environment for a particular clique of the party, which … does not create a broad church. You think one way, support him, or you are disadvantaged,” said Watson.

Johnson’s decision to cross Athwal – even privately – was bold, given that Athwal was known for relentlessly pursuing those who got in his way. “There’s a long list of people who’ve crossed Jas and have been kicked out of the [Labour group],” said Walker.

Dodgy dossiers.

In 2022, Rosa Gomez found herself in front of Athwal again – though this time, with all 56 of his courtiers. Gomez had been called before the Labour group following a complaint of antisemitic behaviour.

The complaint regarded an interaction Gomez had with another councillor, Lloyd Duddridge, earlier that month. Duddridge knew Gomez was on the left of the party, and the pair had had fraught disagreements on previous occasions. At a meeting of Labour group members, the pair found themselves locked in another. After several minutes of hostile back-and-forth, Duddridge says Gomez snapped: “Rightwingers like you, Lloyd, prefer to have handed over the government to the Tories than to have JC [Jeremy Corbyn] in Number 10,” she said. “So I’m a rightwing Jew am I, Rosa?” Duddridge responded.

At that moment another Jewish member walked into the room. “Oh look, Rosa, another rightwing Jew’s just walked in,” Duddridge remarked. Later that night, Duddridge filed a complaint to the chief whip alleging antisemitic abuse by Gomez. Gomez’s support assistant (who has accompanied her in meetings ever since she was blinded in a shooting in Colombia in 2010) submitted a written testimony to the Labour party saying that she had not heard Gomez call Duddridge a “rightwing Jew”. In a message to Novara Media, Duddridge stood by his account.

Later that month, Athwal called Gomez into a meeting of the entire Labour group – 57 people – to answer the chief whip’s questions. Speaking to Novara Media, a source close to Athwal suggested this was standard process. Yet none of the six current or former councillors who spoke to Novara Media recalled anyone receiving similar treatment. At the end of the meeting – described by one Redbridge councillor as a “kangaroo court” – the Labour group was asked to vote on whether Gomez should receive a six-month suspension. The vote passed.

Gomez resigned shortly after her suspension expired, citing “bullying”, “harassment” and the “ill treatment I have received from the leadership in Redbridge”. Gomez, who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of her shooting in Colombia, told Novara Media the disciplinary ordeal resulted in her being prescribed antidepressants.

Speaking to Novara Media, Watson described Gomez’s treatment by Athwal as “cruel”, and suggested other councillors were pressured into suspending her: “I think that lots of councillors in there, in a private moment, would be really uncomfortable about the way Rosa has been treated as a person,” said Watson. “This woman … should be, on any measure of human endeavour, a massively inspiring person. … They know she’s not an antisemite. They know damn well, but they don’t care how much they grind her into the dirt, because it’s all fair dos in whatever factional battle that they’re running.”

Gomez wasn’t the only councillor to discover Athwal’s punitive tendencies. Barbara White was elected a Labour councillor alongside Athwal in 2010. Despite stark differences in their politics – White was on the left of the party, Athwal firmly on the right – the pair were close at first. Athwal would ring White in the early hours of the morning to ask her advice on policy matters and how he should respond to Tory attacks. Athwal backed White to become mayor of Redbridge, a ceremonial position she was elected to in 2015. Not long after, Athwal appears to have decided he wanted White out, for reasons that remain unclear.

In 2017, White’s whip’s report – delivered every four years and used by council leaders to monitor councillors’ performance – was extremely poor. Amid the catalogue of claims was that White had missed several council meetings. This was because she was being treated for cancer – something Athwal knew. The report became the basis for White’s subsequent deselection. Another councillor deselected in 2017 noted that he, White and a third deselected councillor were among 246 Labour councillors who had the previous year signed an open letter stating their continued support for Jeremy Corbyn following Owen’s Smith’s attempt to oust him from the Labour leadership.

Another Labour councillor, whom Novara Media cannot name for legal reasons, claims to have received similar treatment. After a personal falling out with Athwal, they say they received an unsigned whips’ report detailing several unsubstantiated allegations including corruption and mental instability. A source close to Athwal denied this.

“If you agreed with Jas, your career went swimmingly. If you disagreed, you were thrown into a corner. … He will not accept any opinions that don’t agree with his,” said one Redbridge councillor.

Those who attempted to flag problems within the council – even racism, an issue Athwal claimed to take a strong stance against – were punished by Athwal and his allies. Khaled Noor was among them.

In December 2020, the Redbridge Labour Twitter account published a tweet attacking Corbyn’s stance on Palestine and claiming that Israel and Palestine was “the least harmful … of all the conflicts in the world”. Athwal deleted and apologised for the tweet, saying it did not reflect his views or those of Redbridge Labour.

At a Labour group meeting the following month, Noor said a number of his Muslim ward residents were concerned about the tweet. According to several of those present, the meeting chair, councillor Judith Garfield, ignored him. Noor grew exasperated, saying that Islamophobia was not being taken as seriously as antisemitism within the party. Garfield complained to the Labour party, saying Noor had taken an “intimidatory tone” and conducted himself in an “offensive, misogynistic, antisemitic and thereby unacceptable” way. Noor was suspended. “Jas would have had a role [in the suspension],” said one former longstanding Labour councillor, noting that such disciplinary decisions were decided at a council level. “The whip [was] always in his pocket.”

It wasn’t just errant councillors Athwal targeted. Syed Siddiqi is a local leftwing party activist. A former chair of Ilford South CLP, he campaigned for Sam Tarry in 2019. Over the course of several years, Athwal submitted numerous complaints to Siddiqi’s employers at a local hospital. In one filed in November 2022, Athwal claimed that Siddiqi had visited the bedside of a local party member. According to Siddiqi, the hospital replied to Athwal asking him to identify the complainant; he didn’t reply. Athwal also made three complaints about Siddiqi to the police, none of which have resulted in further action.

“Jas’s MO was to build up dossiers on people,” a Labour member in Ilford told Novara Media.

When it came to his own catalogue of misdemeanours, however, the Labour party seemed repeatedly willing to overlook it.

Election irregularities.

Unable to stand due to sexual assault allegations in 2019, Athwal’s parliamentary ambitions became much easier to realise under Keir Starmer – not least because of his leadership’s willingness to ignore irregularities with candidate selection.

The contest to select who would represent Labour in Ilford South at the next general election took place in October 2022. Shortly afterwards Sam Tarry – then the sitting MP – raised a formal complaint with the Labour party alleging vote-rigging. One such allegation concerned 21 Oakwood Gardens, a property owned by Athwal in Ilford. When activists canvassed the house by phone, the Labour members listed as residing there said they intended to vote for Athwal. When canvassed in person, however, it transpired that the listed members had moved out of the property long ago. Athwal’s then-tenants added that someone came to collect the previous tenants’ post (including, presumably, their Labour ballots).

As a candidate in that selection contest, Athwal had access to local membership data. He would therefore have known that the people living at the property did not match the names on the membership list. A complaint was subsequently made to the Labour party alleging that Athwal used his position as a landlord to enable potential voter fraud; the party didn’t investigate.

“Across the world, battles for free and democratic elections are hard-fought, and the freedom we enjoy must always be resolutely defended,” said Athwal in his maiden speech.

When it came to the general election itself, Athwal expended minimal effort in his own constituency, losing 25% of Labour’s vote share. Instead, he focused his resources – and those of the council – in nearby Chingford and Woodford Green, where Faiza Shaheen was standing as an independent after being unceremoniously dumped by Labour at the eleventh hour for liking a series of X/Twitter posts tenuously linked to antisemitism and support for other parties. Two former Labour councillors told Novara Media that Athwal instructed his councillors to door-knock for Shaheen’s Labour rival Shama Tatler (both ultimately lost to the incumbent Tory Iain Duncan Smith).

“All Redbridge councillors were told they had to go to Chingford and do a certain number of sessions per week, and would be in trouble if they didn’t,” one ex-Labour councillor told Novara Media. “Jas was running [a] Chingford campaign against Faiza and not doing anything in his own constituency of Ilford South, and it shows.” Athwal won the election, but with half the majority Tarry won in 2019, beating an unknown pro-Gaza independent by around 7,000 votes.

Though now in parliament, Athwal’s influence in the council remains – not least because he has decided to retain his council seat alongside his seat in the Commons (Streeting did the same when he was elected to parliament in 2015, remaining a councillor for three years following his election). Novara Media understands that the council has so far taken no action against Athwal following the BBC report on the state of his properties; Walker’s recent question to the council about why it has not commissioned an investigation into Athwal was recently ruled out of order. “We cannot comment on individual matters, but it is crucial to stress that the council applies a fair and consistent process for the management of all licensing schemes,” a Redbridge Council spokesperson told Novara Media.

It is notable that none of Redbridge’s 58 Labour councillors have publicly criticised the former leader. Watson suggested this reflected the tight grip Athwal had, and retains, over the council: “You’ve got to have some pretty mad operation going on, that you are a slum landlord and a leader of a council … and not one of [your councillors] to criticise him publicly, or say this falls below the standard we would expect.”

On Tuesday, Walker and his campaign group wrote a letter to the council, asking why no investigation into Athwal – who they believe may be guilty of misconduct in public office, a criminal offence – is forthcoming. “A referral to the police for misconduct in public office may be sought depending upon what comes back from the council,” Walker told Novara Media in a message.