A tribunal member who posted on social media that the collective noun for Conservatives should be a “tumour” has been handed a formal misconduct warning.
Jeremy Purkis, who sits as a non-legal member of the Employment Tribunals in England and Wales, posted a series of messages on X, formerly Twitter, “of a political nature”.
In one, he responded to a post saying “Only atheists should be allowed to run for office” with the reply “Damn right, you won’t catch us killing in the name of our non-god”.
In another, he made the derogatory suggestion about the Conservative Party, the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office (JCIO) said.
The posts were unearthed by lawyers acting for a claimant in a “strongly disputed and politically sensitive” tribunal which Mr Purkis was sitting on, leading to accusations of bias and ended up with the hearing having to be abandoned.
Announcing the misconduct sanction, the JCIO said: “The Social Media Guidance for the Judiciary states that judges should be aware of the risk of undermining trust and confidence in the judiciary by expressing, or appearing to endorse, views which could cast doubt on their objectivity.
“Mr Purkis had been sitting on a strongly disputed and politically sensitive case where the claimant argued that her dismissal had been unlawful, discriminatory and due to her religious beliefs.
“During the hearing the claimant’s representative unearthed tweets of a political nature made by Mr Purkis which called into question his impartiality, integrity and propriety as a judicial office holder.
“Mr Purkis had responded to a tweet which said: ‘Only atheists should be allowed to run for office’ with ‘Damn right, you won’t catch us killing in the name of our non-god’. He also suggested that the collective noun for Conservatives should be a ‘tumour’.
"As a result of the tweets coming to light and the possibility of bias, the tribunal panel recused itself after six days of an eight day hearing, at significant cost and inconvenience to the parties and the public purse.”
When questioned, Mr Purkis “explained that rather than an attack on organised religion his tweet was intended as a light-hearted comment on the misuse of religion by politicians to fuel conflict,” said the JCIO.
“He fully accepted that his intention was unclear in the comment and open to misinterpretation and he offered his apologies for the expense and any potential disrepute that his actions caused to the Tribunal Service.”
