Gwent’s Police and Crime Commissioner has claimed he was made to look the villain by MPs who quizzed him over his role in forcing the retirement of the chief constable.
Ian Johnston was accused of bullying ex-chief constable Carmel Napier out of her role when he appeared before the Home Affairs Select Committee earlier this year.
In a report by the MPs, Mr Johnston was also accused of having a “disdainful attitude towards scrutiny by Parliament”.
But Mr Johnston has hit back telling BBC Wales last week that he was made to look like the villain.
He said: “I don’t think they listened at all to the evidence, I think the way the questioning went they had made their mind up about lots of things.
“If you look at the way that it was done, I was the villain of the piece before I even went in there and Carmel Napier was this poor unfortunate woman who had been bullied by this new police and crime commissioner.
“That was the way they presented it.”
In June this year Mrs Napier announced her shock retirement after a 30-year police career. It was later revealed that she had been forced out after Mr Johnston had issued her with an ultimatum to retire or be sacked.
The former police chief accused Mr Johnston of “menacing and bullying” her out of the force.
The committee reported that Mr Johnston’s actions to “side-step the statutory arrangements for local scrutiny” showed that “the checks and balances on police and crime commissioners are too weak.”
Wayne David, Labour MP for Caerphilly and a critic of Mr Johnston, said: “I know the Gwent PCC doesn’t like the conclusions which the Select Committee reached, but he really must move on, build bridges and work with others to restore the reputation of Gwent Police.
“Policing in Gwent is more important than any one individual.”
Who knows whether Commissioner Johnston is the 'villain of the piece'or not, too early to be objective about this. His job is to deliver policing in a manner that meets with the approval of the people. If he does not the people will vote him out and appoint a new commissioner, something that we could not do with any of the members of the Police Authority who were shadowy figures appointed to their positions.
I agree with Wayne David that Ian Johnston should "build bridges and work with others" but our MPs should also do likewise with him. They should recognise his authority and "move on" from smarting because the voters rejected the choice of the Labour party.