A SWINDON politician has been reprimanded over a public incident which saw him “bring the office of councillor into disrepute”.

Coun Graham Cherry (Con, Parks) was found to have breached the Swindon Council Members’ Code of Conduct by its Standards Committee.

The breach concerned an incident in February when Coun Cherry, pictured, failed to treat a member of the public with respect, according to a public notice.

The Adver understands that Coun Cherry was heard to discuss the details of an ongoing legal matter in the incident, which took place on February 27.

Press and public were excluded from the meeting of the Standards Hearing Panel on October 26, at which it was decided that Coun Cherry had breached the code.

A public notice released by the council said: “The Hearings Panel found that Coun Graham Cherry had breached the Members’ Code of Conduct by failing to treat another person with respect under paragraph 3(1) of the code, and by bringing his office into disrepute under paragraph 5 of the code.

“The reason for the decision was the nature of the discussion between Coun Cherry and others in a public place and the sensitive nature of the information discussed, and this was considered sufficient to constitute a breach of the Code of Conduct.

“The Hearings Panel noted that Coun Cherry had accepted that there had been a breach of the Code of Conduct and had apologised.”

As well as being censured he was forced to write letters of apology to the three individuals within hearing of the discussion and have training in upholding the code.

Speaking to the Adver yesterday Coun Cherry said: “I’m not allowed to talk about it. It was a long time ago and now it has been dealt with.”

The decision to hold the hearing behind closed doors was taken to protect the identities of those involved, according to Swindon Council.

Coun Cherry was elected to Parks ward in 2008 after the incumbent Labour councillor Barrie Thompson stepped down. The Tories’ victory in what was considered one of the town’s safest Labour seats was seen as a considerable coup at the time.