00:00They may not agree on everything, but these Kent County Council group leaders are clear about this.
00:07Councilor conduct needs to improve.
00:10It comes as opposition leader Anthony Hook submitted an official complaint
00:16against Highway's Cabinet member Peter Osborne,
00:20who threatened to punch a colleague in the jaw in a group chat
00:24after a foul-mouthed Reform UK Zoom meeting was leaked to The Guardian.
00:30There was a very recent incident of a senior member of the Reform Administration
00:33had apparently posted a threatening message to other Reform Councillors.
00:37We've asked the Monitoring Officer to investigate that.
00:40Councillors need to behave professionally and uphold the highest standards of behaviour,
00:44so it needs to be looked into.
00:45It's been really shocking. We've had an absolute explosion in the number of complaints,
00:50a Council of Code of Conduct complaints, and we think that we need to draw a line under that.
00:55People need to understand how to behave in the Chamber and on social media
01:00to take their responsibilities properly.
01:04Peter Osborne says he made an ill-judged remark following a serious breach of trust.
01:10He never intended it as a threat, even apologising for it at the time,
01:16and stresses there's no suggestion of violence beyond a poorly chosen expression.
01:22And his feelings that this was politically motivated were shared by KCC's leader.
01:28Lots of unacceptable things happen every day.
01:31I take offence at lots of things, but do I try and use that as an attack on people?
01:36No, I don't.
01:37So I think we all need to grow up a little bit and move on.
01:40The monitoring officer may now choose to investigate the matter further
01:44and send it to the Standards Committee.
01:47A potential setback for an administration still adamant they were betrayed by their own
01:54Olly Leader at Sessions House.
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