Former chief minister formally reprimanded

A code of conduct panel judged Deputy St Pier broke the States code of conduct in 2022

Guernsey's former Chief Minister Gavin St Pier has been formally reprimanded by the States for breaking the code of conduct.

An independent panel judged St Pier had broken rules by naming Dr Sandie Bohin in a speech to the States Assembly as one of the clinicians involved in an investigation into safeguarding, which found no wrongdoing.

St Pier appealed against the judgement, but that appeal was thrown out earlier this year.

A total of 32 States members voted to support the proposal to formally reprimand St Pier - the BBC has contacted him for a response.

The panel considering the complaint found some of the statements in St Pier's speech were "seriously and fundamentally misleading".

The three complaints made against him were by the British Medical Association (BMA), the Medical Specialist Group and Dr Bohin.

In May 2023 St Pier was cleared of an abuse of parliamentary privilege in relation to the comments.

Former Deputy Chief Minister Mark Helyar said St Pier should resign from the States following this sanction, something deputy Chris Le Tissier agreed with.

'Reckless and irresponsible'

During the debate on the report from the States Assembly and Constitution Committee (SACC) in to whether to formally reprimand St Pier, former Chief Minister Peter Ferbrache said he wanted to "give justice to an eminent professional".

Ferbrache said he believed St Pier's conduct was "reckless and irresponsible" and he should be suspended from the States, and supported the recommendation of the independent panel to formally reprimand St Pier.

SACC President Carl Meerveld said the process to get to this stage had taken "too long" and apologised on behalf of his committee.