Cambridgeshire and Peterborough mayor faced bullying allegations

By Rachael McMenemy & Hannah BrownBBC News, Cambridgsehire & Local Democracy Reporting Service

Jon Michel/BBC

Nik Johnson has now apologised via email to the complainants

A mayor faced allegations of bullying, harassment and creating a toxic culture, according to a new report.

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Mayor Dr Nik Johnson was deemed to have breached the organisation's code of conduct earlier this month.

Investigators cleared him of bullying but found he breached civility and disrepute rules.

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority (CPCA) said it would learn from the investigation report.

The Labour mayor had apologised at a meeting on 14 November but details of the allegations against him had not previously been shared, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.

The report states that a complainant alleged there was a "toxic culture" at the authority as well as bullying, particularly of a senior officer and its former CEO.

'Henchman'

Much of the alleged bullying appeared to have "emanated" from an ex-employee, the report said, adding that it was "implausible" Dr Johnson was unaware of this behaviour, as he claimed,

It said his failure to intervene "amounted to him condoning such behaviour" and that he received a warning about it before the first official complaint, in which the ex-employee was described as a "henchman".

However the investigator said there was no breach of the "civility" standard but that "did not mean that the Mayor's actions were acceptable".

The report found Dr Johnson should also have called out the ex-employee for discussing confidential human resources activity over WhatsApp and a failure to do so showed a "lack of respect and leadership".

This led investigators to find he had breached the code and brought himself into disrepute.

Complaints made in October 2021, and in April and May 2022, included claims that an employee was asked to attend a partisan (Labour) event, that officers' decisions were deliberately undermined and that there was an attempt to damage officers' reputation by leaking a confidential report to a journalist.

No evidence of breaches by the mayor were found in these circumstances.

Dr Johnson publicly apologised last month, saying he regretted being the "cause of upset".

CPCA's chief executive Rob Bridge said it was clear there were "lessons for us to learn" and the induction process for a new mayor would change as a result.

The organisation's board will also consider the findings on 29 November.