Milton Keynes councillor faces investigation over claims she invented a fake identity on social media

Kerrie Bradburn, a Liberal Democrat councillor for Broughton ward, is alleged to have used an alter ego called Linda Duncan to make positive comments about herself and negative comment about opposing Tories on Facebook.

She was reported this week to the monitoring officer for MK Council's Standard's Committee by a member of the public who conducted his own investigation into the Linda Duncan account.

He claims he has proved the account, which he says has been used "extensively" over the past two years, is linked to Kerrie Bradburn's personal email address.

The Citizen has approached Cllr Bradburn but she has not accepted our invitation to comment.

We have seen the complaint to the Standard's Committee, together with screenshots of the alleged evidence from Facebook.

The complainant states: "When an account is created with Facebook, a unique username is created and this is a digital fingerprint on the Facebook platform. This fingerprint can be used to conclusively demonstrate that the Facebook account by the name of Linda Duncan was set up by and

belongs to Councillor Bradburn."

Some of the Facebook screenshots show Linda Duncan posts that praise Kerrie herself, while others praise her parents, both of whom are also MK councillors and represent Bradwell ward.

Linda Duncan, who describes herself as divorced and has no friends listed, appears to be a member of several different resident's groups spread over MK, each designed to be for people who live in that particular area. She is also a regular poster on the MK Citizen Facebook page.

Bizarrely, there is one residents' group post where Ms Duncan has a conversation with Kerrie Bradburn. In December 2018, when Kerrie was campaigning to be elected the following May.

Linda wrote: "Keep up the good work, Kerrie. I usually hate people knocking at my door but it was really lovely to meet you the other day."

Kerrie replied: "Thanks for the kind words..always happy to help.

Later, Linda Duncan replied to a post criticising Cllr Robin Bradburn. She wrote: "I've had more dealings with robin. And his wife Marie (could be Mary, not 100% sure). I appreciate they cannot do everything but they've certainly gone out of their way to help me."

The letter of complaint claims other posts have made "nasty" comments about local Conservatives. It gives one example from last month when a Tory councillor apologised for declaring on social media that the "invasion" of migrants should be stopped following the vote for the government's Immigration Bill

Linda Duncan commented on Facebook underneath the Citizen's story: "“This is a disgraceful article. No basis for this harassment. The Tories have ‘leaked’ this to the press because they know it wouldn’t stand up to scrutiny. Racist Tories strike again."

The complainant, in his letter to the Standards Committee, claims: "The use of a fake social media account by a Councillor is contrary to both the Milton Keynes Code of Conduct for Councillors and the Nolan principles. Councillors should act with honesty, integrity and openness in all areas of public life, including on social media.

Councillors should not act under the guise of a fake name to further their political objectives and to undermine other political parties, councillors or members of the public."

Local Liberal Democrat leader Councillor Douglas McCall has also seen the letter of complaint and the screenshots.

He told the Citizen today: ""I am aware that an allegation has been made against a member of my group, and that has now been referred to the Monitoring Officer who will consider if further investigation is required. I believe it would be inappropriate for me to comment further before the outcome of any investigation"

All the allegations will now be considered by the council's monitoring officer who has the power to refer it to the Standards Committee, which is made up of a group of people appointed by MK Council to help maintain and promote high ethical standards.