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| Bartolotti, Were & Slaughter |
The long-delayed Tribunal into Bartolotti’s complaint of “defamation” by Dr Max Wallis (2013) is being held
on
Friday at the YMCA in Cardiff (from
12 noon).
The new leadership of the Wales Green Party have not publicised the event; they are not even sending a representative, leaving Bartolotti to take along the defeated candidate unemployed Anthony Slaughter who is no longer a member of the Wales Council.
Documents associating the Wales Green Party with Bartolotti’s complaint have been withdrawn, indicating that the new leadership is distancing itself from the case, that is seen as an attack on free speech.
The Bartolotti v. Wallis website <howgreenpartyexpels> has the strapline “Speech is free – censorship costs everyone”. It provides the case documents, including a scurrilous attack on Max Wallis by ex-Welsh Party secretary Ann Were as a late statement, replacing those withdrawn.
Lawyer Damian McCarthy, a specialist in tribunals, is presenting the Defence case along with Max Wallis.
Ann Were Statement in Support of the Complaint Against Max Wallis
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Pippa Bartolotti - Ann Were & son Chris
Were candidates on SWE list |
I was General Secretary of Wales Green Party at the time of the incidents
involving Mr. Wallis.
At the Wales GP AGM in 2012 Max was elected Campaigns Coordinator and
Newsletter Editor. He was unopposed in both elections.
Max was inactive in both roles until March 2013. He was tasked with sending
out a Newsletter on or before the 1st March notifying members of a Special
conference to be held later in the year, and detailing arrangements for the
selection of our Euro list. On 7th March 2013 I contacted Max as the
newsletter had not been sent and it subsequently arrived on 9th March, over a
week late.
Unfortunately, it included "GPEW gossip on GreenLeaksUK" and referred to
GPRC "secret courts" with regard to the expulsion of Anne Greagsby and
Marc France. It claimed that AG had been expelled for her public criticism of
Pippa Bartolotti. This was a fallacy, as records will show.
I believe GPRC
already has a copy of this newsletter but I can supply one if not.
It was agreed to put this issue on the agenda for discussion at the next
WGPC meeting due to be held in May.
However, on the 4th May 2013, just before the WGPC meeting, another
newsletter was sent. This newsletter contained an anonymous "letter to the
Editor" inferring that Pippa was guilty of various misdemeanours in her
previous business life and provided a link to spoof websites set up by Max
himself, with the help of Anne Greagsby. It should be noted that Max claims
that the source for his information was a Wikipedia page which was,
coincidently, also written by Max. (The offending page has now been removed
by Wikipedia as Max continued to contribute to it long after he was
suspended).
The ballot papers and personal statements for the Euro list were sent out
soon after the 29th April 2013 so would have been arriving on member’s door
mats at about the same time as the newsletter.
On the 9th May 2013 the Wales ERO decided to suspend the Euro selection
procedure as he believed that the fairness of it had been compromised.
As General Secretary, I wrote to all members explaining the situation and
asking them to disregard the offending newsletter.
At the Wales GP Council meeting on 14th May 2013 it was decided to
suspend Max from his role of Newsletter Editor but to allow him to continue as
Campaigns Coordinator. Max was present for part of this meeting but chose
to leave before the vote was taken. (He took the opportunity to slip away
when we moved rooms). Nevertheless, Max was given every opportunity to
justify his actions but was unable to do so. He claimed in a text to me that he
felt he was being bullied, but this was completely untrue. He was simply being
asked difficult questions.
Max was asked to destroy all members contact details in his possession.
Shortly afterwards, it came to my attention that Max had been forwarding
confidential emails on to Anne Greagsby who was subsequently posting them
on the internet. I believe Pippa asked that this also be included as part of her
complaint against him.
On 5th July Max sent yet another newsletter, despite having been asked to
destroy all members details in his possession. This action, therefore,
contravened the Data Protection Act.
At our meeting of the 6th July 2013 we wished to discuss Max's actions
confidentially but Max refused to leave the room. Therefore we had no option
but to discuss them via email during the following few days. It was decided to
suspend him from Wales Green Party and to ask that his actions be taken into
consideration as part of the complaint initiated by Pippa. I wrote to GPRC and
David Murray with this request and explaining our decision on 13th July 2013.
Since Max's suspension from the Party, both he and Anne Greagsby have
continued to publish inaccurate and misleading information about Pippa and
Wales Green Party in general. They have targeted individuals and harassed
them remorselessly. They have attended meetings and events at which Pippa
has been invited to speak and heckled her continuously.
Max has now
published all documents relating to this complaint on the internet.
If these
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| Pippa Bartolotti & Ann Were |
complaints are dismissed, and Max is allowed to remain a full Party
member, I believe that there is a very strong likelihood that Wales Green
Party will decide to continue with his suspension from the regional party. I
simply cannot see how we could move forward with him as a member, as he
has already done so much damage and shows no sign of regret.
I think it is also worth mentioning that his Partner, Anne Greagsby, is now a
Plaid Cymru member and is, I believe, a member of their executive body.
While I appreciate that Max cannot be held accountable for his partners
actions, he does state that his main reason for joining the Green Party was to
support his partner. There is no evidence to suggest that that has changed, or
is likely to change in the near future. It would, therefore, in my opinion, be a
serious mistake to allow Max to continue as a full party member.
Please note that I have copies of documents and emails to support everything
I have written here. If you need any of them please contact me at
annwere@walesgreenparty.com
Response/commentary
on Ann Were’s statement 10
March 2016
This
Statement has been included late in the Tribunal Bundle, with no explanation.
It
makes sweeping allegations with no evidence, including some that long postdate
the July 2013 suspension. It adopts the
conspiracy story spun by the old guard in the WGP leadership, while
conveniently omitting disagreement within the WGPCouncil. Though written as if by the General Secretary
of Wales Green Party at the time, it clearly represents a personal view and not
the WGP Council view (see the commentary of Chris Simpson in the original
documents bundle). Nor does it admit the
issues that came up over the constitutionality of the WGP Council
considerations of my case, specifically the issues of whether their meetings
were quorate and of failing to follow the adopted procedure for resolving
complaints and disputes.
Its
status is unclear; if it’s a witness statement it should have been circulated
earlier, after the January 2015 deadline. Ann Were as witness should also have
been announced on the 9th May 2013 Complaint Form. If it’s accepted as a witness statement, she
should be seen as a hostile witness.
She
would have seen my Statement (Part 3) that shows she conspired against me,
falsified Minutes to make meetings appear quorate, fabricated allegations like ‘a
track-record of disrupting WGPC meetings’, trumped up trivial charges about
allegedly ‘confidential’ e-mails and, as General Secretary and chair, operated
a ‘kangaroo court’ including via ‘telephone conferences’. Her statement however, fails to respond on
these evidenced accusations, but instead just blows up an attack on me.
Ann
Were was Secretary only because she’d concealed information that the WGP
Constitution excluded her from standing for the post at the 2012 WGP AGM. I was part of the questioning, that people
who have served over 5 years on the Council are excluded. She came to an arrangement with the ERO that
she would not disclose that she (and others of the old guard) had served well
over 5 years (the previous ERO supplied information of Council member only for
4 years). Ann Were had been caught out –
but continued to conceal this from the membership, rather than continue in an
‘acting’ General Secretary role until matters could be resolved
constitutionally.
Ann
Were was unhelpful over my taking over Newsletter Editor from her son (Chris),
giving me a membership list full of errors rather than a useable circulation
list. She e-mailed “resign!” immediately
the first Newsletter came out, unable to give reason when challenged. Chris Simpson told her I was fully within the
Editor’s remit but she refused to
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| John Matthews |
withdraw or apologise. I complained to her about John Matthews
reacting likewise, asking her to tell the Cardiff Branch to follow the GP
Complaints Procedure, but she refused.
She
chose to consult a cabal within the Council members (excluding John Evans/ERO,
Dorothy Wilson/Membership, Paul Atkins and me) over how to ‘get Max’ (April
2013 e-mail train).
When
issues around the second Newsletter arose, she as General Secretary (and Chair)
should have ensured they follow the complaints procedure, but she refused,
going for the ‘kangaroo court’. In referring to the “anonymous letter to the
Editor”, Ann Were omits to mention that she approved my publishing it. This controversial letter was circulated in
advance, first to Bartolotti with a request for a response from her, and second
around all the council members. Ann Were supplied Bartolotti’s earlier replies
on her companies being involved in the nuclear business and I included them as
she asked.
The
issue of her son (Chris Were, then deputy ‘Leader’) operating a sexist and mysogynist
personal website blew up in the Press; I asked for this to be on the Agenda of
the WGPC, but Ann Were refused. (They
blamed me for leaking it.)
I
raised the issue of WGP Council meetings not reaching the quorum in the
Constitution (I absented myself from
the May meeting to ensure this) so Ann Were took to fabricating attendee lists
(one meeting co-opting Trish Evans as Bridgend Branch rep. when the
Constitution requires nomination by the Branch in advance, at other meetings minuting
that others doubled as Branch reps when they had never been nominated). Because
Branches hardly functioned, they didn’t nominate Branch reps, while my own
Cardiff Branch omitted to bother, so meeting the Constitutional requirement for
3 Branch Reps in attendance was difficult if not impossible. But Ann Were took to recording all meetings
as quorate.
She
misreports the 14th May 2013 WGP Council meeting. The Meeting record shows I was not present at
all, but only at the earlier Special Conference. I did not “slip away” but deliberately did
not attend; not for “being bullied” as she misremembers, but over her failures
as chair to control abuse of me, particularly by John Matthews. My full txt message is recorded in the
Minutes as
“Apologies 4 missing
WGPC. JM disrespect with 'mole'etc, unchecked by chair. I decline to resign
Editor, follow complaints procedure. Max”.
Ann Were claims that AG being expelled
for her public criticism of Pippa Bartolotti “was a fallacy” and that the
expulsion followed proper process. The
facts are that the complaint was first submitted by GPRC member Owen Clarke,
then by Bartolotti to CEO David Murray: “The publicising
through social networking sites and various blogs and emails of malicious
lies...” (Jill Mills, 12 Nov.2012);
secondly that Owen Clarke doubled as DRC chairman and excused Bartolotti for
not using the DRC (for dispute resolution) showing clear conflict of interest
and bias to his friend Bartolotti, and thirdly that the expulsion was decided
as out-of-order following a report by the SOC endorsed by national Conference,
which over-ruled GPRC.
Ann
Were asserts I set up “spoof websites” and wrote a Wikipedia page. The first is false, while I only contributed
bits to an existing Wikipedia page, to which Chris Were also made changes (in
his case dishonestly removing a picture on the false excuse that it was
defamatory – the factual un-doctored photo which shows PB associating with a
fascist-inclined Middle East group).
Wikipedia does not accept a person’s own CV (as Bartolotti’s page did
initially) but keeps to facts checked with independent sources.
Ann
Were asserts “Max had been forwarding confidential emails on”, but she knows
the Council assumed I had forwarded
them, also that the e-mails were not “confidential” in marking or substance
(John Matthews writing that he disassociated himself from the Newsletter). She knows the whole accusation was
fabricated, but she took the complaint through a WGP Council meeting contrary to Complaints
Procedure, when I was away (attending my dying mother) and unable to respond at
the short notice.
This
later material appears to have been accepted by GPRC’s co-chairs, with Ann Were
asking that these matters “be taken into consideration as part of the complaint
initiated by Pippa”, in view of the documents in Mike Shone’s bundle of Oct.
2014.
I
(and Anne Greagsby) am accused of having “targeted individuals and harassed
them remorselessly”. This like other parts can only be hearsay, based on
Bartolotti’s fantasy. Moreover, Ann Were is accusing me of criminal acts under
the Harassment Act. And claims she has
“documents and emails to support everything I have written here”. This shows loss of control of her sociopathic
tendencies and validates my challenging her as a hostile witness.
----------------------------------------------------------------------- Dr Max
Wallis, 10 March 2016
