IOA group leader “harassed and bullied” female councillor

The group leader of the Independent Oxford Alliance, David Henwood, has been found to have harassed and bullied a Labour councillor and brought Oxford City Council into disrepute.

Trish Elphinstone, who works as a music teacher, was Labour county councillor for Rose Hill & Littlemore. She brought a complaint to Oxford City Council’s Standards Committee saying that Cllr Henwood had repeatedly “posted untruths” about her on social media:

“He has used inflammatory language on several social media posts. He has used the unacceptable term ‘Trish is a Traitor’ and that I have betrayed residents. Which is simply untrue. He said that Trish voted for the Rose Hill Controlled Parking Zone at Full Council last November. Which is simply untrue. There was no vote for a CPZ in Rose Hill. […]

“David Henwood has a history of being expelled as a City and Parish Councillor for bullying. If he wants to stand in the election, his foundation should be based on integrity and truth. This bullying is uncalled for and wrong. Councillors should set better standards of honesty, integrity and respect and he has been consistently lacking in this regard.”

David Henwood claimed that he was not acting in the capacity of a councillor when posting on social media, pointing to a disclaimer on his Twitter/X profile, though this disclaimer was not present on his other profiles. However, the City Council’s hearing panel disagreed. They wrote:

“The posts on the profiles both before and since the posts that the complaint related to, were connected to the Councillor Henwood in his role as a councillor. They included posts concerning his questions to be posed at full council, posts concerning co-councillors and also latterly a post concerning this complaint against him. […] A reasonable person would conclude he was using the profiles, and therefore acting, as a councillor.”

Cllr Henwood is the group leader on Oxford City Council of the Independent Oxford Alliance, the party that campaigns against Low Traffic Neighbourhoods and traffic filters. He also sits as the IOA’s sole councillor on Oxfordshire County Council, where he is the transport spokesman for the Conservative-led opposition (the ‘Oxfordshire Alliance’).

Even today, his social media disclaimer reads “The views I express here are mine and do not necessarily reflect the views of the council” – citing “the council” rather than “me as a councillor”:

The Standards Committee concluded not just that Cllr Henwood had bullied Trish Elphinstone, but that posting about her complaint had also “brought the Council’s standards process into disrepute”. It found:

• That Councillor Henwood had acted as a councillor when posting on social media and that a reasonable person may not have interpreted the views he expressed as personal.
• That the language used, repetition, and singling out of a person exhibited in the social media posts combined with the unproven and potentially false or misleading nature of some of the statements, constituted harassment and bullying.
• That Councillor Henwood had brought the Council’s standards process into disrepute and had risked its confidentiality and politicising it.
• That Councillor Henwood had therefore breached sections 6.1, 6.2 and 6.5 of the Code of Conduct in relation to bullying and harassment, respect, and bringing the Council into disrepute.

The committee ordered that Cllr Henwood provide “full and appropriate written public apologies”.

Cllr Henwood has previously posted on social media about the importance of councillors following rules. In a July posting about the Oxford congestion charge, he wrote “This raises serious concerns regarding adherence to purdah guidelines. I have sought clarification from officers on whether the Labour group was aware of or consulted about this scheme prior to or during these communications. Transparency and adherence to the rules are essential to maintaining public trust, especially during an election period.”

However, his social media feeds continue to host inflammatory material. A spoof image on his Bluesky feed claims that “bike users believe they know better than the rest of us” and writes of “selfish, self-entiteled [sic] virtue signalling”.

A Facebook posting contains the widely debunked claim that a return journey on the Cowley Branch Line will be “in the region of £15 to £21”; most observers expect it to be no more than £5. (Labour councillor Linda Smith replied that these claims were “the usual misinformation” and “a distortion of the facts”.) As of 10 October, claims about Trish Elphinstone are still live, including “No wonder they sent Trish to hide at the conference. There is more Teflon on a labour councillor than in Gordon Ramsay's kitchen.”