Investigators say councillor breached conduct code

A Reform UK Leicestershire county councillor breached the authority's code of conduct in social media posts, investigations have found.

Joseph Boam faces two complaints, one lodged by a former senior council officer and the other by a Conservative councillor, which will be discussed at member conduct panel hearings on Friday.

Investigations, carried out ahead of the meetings, concluded Boam failed to treat former council monitoring officer Lauren Haslam with respect and, seperately, brought the authority into disrepute with posts about a row over bus routes.

Boam has denied breaching the code of conduct and called the complaint process "a ridiculous waste of taxpayer money".

Council reports said Boam had declined to apologise in both cases, or engage with the investigations.

One complaint, from November 2025, was made by Lauren Haslam, the council's former monitoring officer, in response to a clip of a council meeting which Boam published on a Facebook account he runs.

Haslam alleged the clip had been selectively edited to give "a misleading and inaccurate impression of her response" in a way that was disrespectful to her as a professional officer of the council.

Boam asked Haslam if she thought that a rise in complaints was "from far-left activists trying to cancel and silence Reform UK councillors", to which she replied: "No, I wouldn't agree with that statement, thank you".

However, investigators found Boam chose to only publish her initial three-second reply and deliberately omitted a further explanation that followed.

As a result, investigators found that the post led to her being accused of bias and of being a "nasty piece of work", according to the comments that followed.

Haslam later asked Boam to remove the post, but he did not acknowledge or respond to the email, nor did he remove the post – leading her to lodge a formal complaint.

The complaint led to an investigation in which Boam 'refused to engage with the investigation in any meaningful way', a report said.

Haslam, who worked for the council for over 25 years, told investigators she "could not bear to view his Facebook post".

She added: "I recall when I first looked at it, there were 70 comments, meaning that the misleading information was not trivial or limited in its impact.

"I knew there would be unfounded negative comments about me posted on it by members of the public.

"My husband kept it under review, but I asked him not to share the details with me because I found it too upsetting".

She said that posts and comments made by Boam caused her "a lot of upset" and were part of her decision to leave her post.

Haslam added that the complaint involving Boam "contributed to [her] decision to resign employment with Leicestershire County Council and seek employment elsewhere".

The investigators found that Boam breached the member's code of conduct.

However Boam told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) he believed he had not breached the code and had simply "clicked screen record" when he made the post.

He added: "There was no editing. She answered the question and it is just a question in a committee and she came back with a further answer just in a longer format.

"So in what world would I then edit that in her favour? That's not for me to go and edit 20 seconds out to make her look better, which was her original answer".

He also told investigators he was showing a "legitimate, shared concern among colleagues about perceived bias in complaint processing".

Haslam also said Boam had questioned her impartiality in a bid to pressurise her over how she dealt with complaints.

Boam posted: "She is meant to [be] impartial. I speak for many [councillors] in Leicestershire when I say that is most definitely not the case."

Boam also denied this breached the code claiming his comment reflected "a legitimate, shared concern among colleagues".

The second complaint against Boam, who represents Whitwick, was made by Ozzy O'Shea who was the Conservative cabinet member for highways and transport before Reform took control of the council in May 2025.

O'Shea alleged Boam "unfairly and inaccurately" blamed him for the rerouting of bus services down Church Lane in Whitwick in Facebook posts which included a "digitally-created caricature" of the Tory councillor.

O'Shea said he had nothing to do with the decision, which emerged after the election.

He said Boam knew, or should have known, that was the case.

A report said Boam told council officials he did not knowingly publish false information or act in bad faith.

Boam said his comments reflected his "genuinely held understanding of political responsibility" for the circumstances leading to the rerouting of the buses.

Investigators concluded Boam's posts were "highly critical, accusatory and at times personalised" but they judged he had not failed to treat O'Shea with respect.

They also did not uphold O'Shea's allegation he had been harassed.

However Pamela Roberts, an independent person who advises the member conduct panel, said: "I consider the alleged breach of the disrepute section of the code a significant aspect of the complaint.

"The tone, content and lack of veracity of councillor Boam's posts could lower public confidence in the council's ability to carry out its functions and bring the office of councillor into disrepute."

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