Stephen Doughty and Byron Long in the Quantum Cafe, Cardiff Bay, where Mr Long claims he handed over prescription anti-depressants to the politician
Martin Shipton
A vulnerable constituent who illegally supplied a Welsh Labour MP with a prescription drug has asked the Information Commissioner’s Office to reopen an investigation into his allegation that the party failed in its safeguarding responsibilities towards him by not liaising with social workers.
In 2021 Stephen Doughty, the MP for Cardiff South and Penarth and since last year a Foreign Office Minister, admitted asking Byron Long to give him a diazepam tablet on a single occasion after the Mail on Sunday was shown text messages between the two men.
Mr Long, who like the politician has mental health issues, claims he supplied Mr Doughty with such tablets multiple times, but the politician has denied that.
The Parliamentary Standards Commissioner concluded in a report published in October 2021 that “[by] obtaining diazepam from the complainant, Mr Doughty was complicit in a criminal offence.” However the Commissioner did not uphold Mr Long’s complaint against the MP.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) later concluded that South Wales Police appeared to have shown preferential treatment towards Mr Doughty in handling the case. It ordered the police to reinvestigate it.
In a letter to Mr Long, an IOPC casework manager stated: “Following your attendance at Cardiff Bay police station on May 27, 2021, in relation to the supply of a controlled drug to Stephen Doughty MP, you received a police caution. You asserted that Mr Doughty’s actions should be criminally investigated. You alleged that:
* Mr Doughty’s status as an MP meant the police did not wish to take action because he is a powerful and influential person, despite evidence in the form of a text from Mr Doughty asking for class C drugs.
* You stated that you are a vulnerable adult, and you believe that Mr Doughty used his position of influence to take advantage of you. You believe this should have triggered serious safeguarding concerns about the nature of your relationship with Mr Doughty.
* You questioned whether Mr Doughty’s relationship with Alun Michael, [then the] Police and Crime Commissioner for South Wales, was a factor in the decision not to take action against Mr Doughty.”
‘Acceptable’
The complaint handler at South Wales Police concluded that the service provided to Mr Long was acceptable. However the IOPC ruled otherwise.
The force looked again at the case, but did not accept that it had acted unreasonably in not interviewing Mr Doughty under caution.
Mr Michael said at the time that he had had “no involvement whatsoever in the police handling of the case”.
Mr Long has since released correspondence between himself and the UK Labour Party in which the party claimed it had fulfilled its responsibilities towards him as a vulnerable adult and party member.
A Labour official wrote to him stating: “As you are aware, there has been significant investigative work into your concerns by South Wales Police, the IOPC, and the House of Commons, and I am aware that you have been in contact with the Labour Party’s Complaints Team separately. I can also reassure you that the party’s safeguarding manager did previously consult with Cardiff Adults Social Care. In light of the actions undertaken by the Labour Party and these other external agencies, it has been determined that there are no necessary next steps for the Safeguarding Team to undertake.”
Subject access request
However, when Mr Long submitted a subject access request to Cardiff council seeking details of the contact between the party and the council, he received a response that said: “Thank you for your request under the Data Protection Act 2018. We are writing to advise you that following a search of our paper and electronic records, we have established that the information you requested is not held by the council.”
The Information Commissioner’s Office advised Mr Long to “reach out to Cardiff Council and seek clarification on whether it is their position that contact was made with them by The Labour Party.”
Mr Long has now been told: “Cardiff council can confirm that following a search of our paper and electronic records, it has established that the information you requested is not held by the council.
“To clarify, the following Cardiff council teams conducted searches for any relevant information in relation to your request, and returned a NIL response: Adult Social Services; Adult Safeguarding; The Professional Safeguarding Team; The Social Services Disclosure Team.
“Searches were also carried out on the following Social Services systems: CareFirst; Eclipse.
“Regarding your query about the retention period for safeguarding inquiries, the Safeguarding Team has advised that it is considered good practice to retain safeguarding records for a minimum of 75 years, and in some cases, records may be kept permanently where necessary.”
‘Grateful’
Mr Long said: “I am grateful to Cardiff council for carrying out this exhaustive search, which has shown definitively that there is no record of the Labour Party contacting it. I have always said that the Labour Party let me down, and now my position has finally been vindicated.
“I have asked the Information Commissioner’s Office to reopen its investigation.”
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