Councillor who sent 'Fat Pot Noodle mums' tweet suspended from council as appeal fails

Independent Chirk town councillor Gareth Baines was suspended last year when he breached the code of conduct by contacting a woman's employers after she raised a grievance against him.

He was also told he should carry out code of conduct training and write letters of apology.

Councillor Baines appealed against Wrexham council's standards committee's ruling, but it has now upheld its decision.

The suspension will come into effect on Wednesday.

Last year Councillor Baines resigned as chairman of his local Conservative association after a New Year's Eve tweet about accident and emergency departments being full of "fat mums and their kids" .

The then-Clwyd South Conservative Association chairman, who stood as an independent despite being a Tory member, resigned saying his comments had been taken out of context but apologised for offending anyone.

The New Year's Eve tweets were made not under his council Twitter account but that of DrGABaines, where he tweeted: "After spending most of my life working on the continent, the NHS isn’t the best in the world - it isn’t one of the best in Europe. Pales when compared with systems like Germany and Norway.”

The tweet that saw the most responses said: “A&Es in Germany aren’t full of fat mums in pot noodle-stained leggings/pjs taking their kids for a day out at A&E to harvest Facebook likes because their darling little snot-covered Asbo fell over. Happy New Year.”

The code of conduct requires councillors to show respect and to not use bullying behaviour or use their position to create a disadvantage for other people.

Although he accepted the findings, Councillor Baines appealed to the Adjudication Panel Wales that the suspension sanction imposed was excessive.

In December, the panel decided to refer the case back to the standards committee with a recommendation the period of suspension be reduced to two months.

But after revisiting the matter, Wrexham's standards committee decided to stand by the original three-month suspension, which will begin on Wednesday.

Wrexham Council officer Linda Roberts told councillors that the appeal tribunal had referred the matter back to the standards committee and that it had recommended a two-month suspension.

However the standards committee decided that the three month sanction was the appropriate one at the time and should be upheld.