How a promising political career as Teessides Police & Crime Comisioner eventually led to Mr Turners life being ruined by malicious allegations primarily ochestrated from his political opponents....
9th March 2025
In the annals of Teesside’s turbulent political history, few stories are as harrowing as that of Steve Turner, the former Conservative Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) for Cleveland. What began as a promising career in public service eventually descended into a nightmare of false accusations, public humiliation, and personal devastation, orchestrated, according to Turner, by a highly calculated smear campaign from senior Labour Party figures in the region.
This tale isnt just about one man’s ordeal, but raises serious questions about the ethics of political rivalry, the weaponisation of anonymous allegations, and the devastating human cost of such actions.
The Smear Campaign: Labour’s Alleged Role
Steve Turner’s tenure as Cleveland’s PCC, a role tasked with holding the police accountable on behalf of the public, was abruptly derailed by a series of anonymous allegations that surfaced back in 2021, just months after his election in May of that year. These accusations—ranging from “systematic theft” to sexual abuse and even physical assault—were not only said to have been 'baseless' but, as Turner alleges, part of a deliberate and highly organised “witch-hunt” aimed at destroying both his reputation and career. At the heart of this alleged campaign was Andy McDonald, the Labour MP for Middlesbrough & Thornaby East. Documents uncovered through Turner’s subject access requests paint a damning picture of McDonald’s involvement. It was McDonald who first brought the allegations to public attention, repeatedly calling for Turner’s resignation without, according to Mr Turner, verifying the claims or declaring his role in initially passing them on to authorities.
Emails revealed through these requests show Labours MP Andy McDonald contacting Cleveland Police’s Chief Constable about an anonymous claim of Turner’s alleged dishonesty in a previous job, as well as forwarding allegations of a violent incident at a pub which was said to have occured in Redcar back in 2019. Turner contends that McDonald’s actions were not those of a concerned public servant but the actions of a political opportunist seeking to undermine a Conservative rival.
The involvement didn’t just stop with Labours Andy McDonald. Matthew Storey, the Labour group leader on Middlesbrough Council and Turner’s opponent in the PCC election, is also said to have been implicated. Storey reportedly encouraged local council leaders to join the chorus demanding Turner’s resignation, further amplifying the pressure. High-profile Labour figures, some of whom included shadow cabinet members Rachel Reeves and Bridget Phillipson, as well as Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, joined the fray, publicly calling for Turner to step down whilst investigations were ongoing. This collective piling-on, Turner argues, turned unverified allegations into a media firestorm, effectively destroying his reputation overnight.
The Human Cost: A Life Nearly Destroyed by clearly 'baseless allegations'....
The toll of this campaign on Steve Turner cannot be overstated. Cleared of all allegations after exhaustive investigations, Turner’s exoneration sadly came too late to salvage his career or even his mental health at the time. The relentless public scrutiny, fueled by the left wing extremist media’s amplification of the false claims eventually led Mr Turner attempting to take his own life. “Once the story had been published, it destroyed my reputation overnight, and the weight of the public scrutiny was unbearable,” Turner is said to recall. The distress, anxiety, and humiliation he endured impacted not only his mental well-being but also his physical health, leaving scars that persist to this day.
Turner, a married father of three with two grandchildren, was not just a public figure but a man whose personal life was dragged through the mud. The anonymity of the accusers, combined with the lack of transparency in the investigation process—Turner often didn’t even know he was under investigation—compounded his sense of helplessness. It was only through his own persistence, using subject access requests, that he uncovered the extent of the alleged political machinations behind the accusations.
Rebuilding His Life....
Now, three years after the ordeal began, Mr Turner is said to be 'painstakingly rebuilding his life'. His career in public office lies in ruins, a casualty of what he describes as a politically motivated vendetta. Yet, his fight is far from over. Turner is said to be calling for accountability, urging the parliamentary commissioners for standards, as well as the Labour Party to investigate the Middlesbrough MP Andy McDonald’s actions. He argues that McDonald’s failure to verify the allegations before publisisng them, and his lack of disclosure about his own involvement, constitutes a serious breach of parliamentary ethics.
Turner’s case also shines a spotlight on the broader issues within political culture, particularly the dangers of anonymous allegations being weaponized for partisan gain. Whilst whistleblowing mechanisms like Cleveland Police’s “Break the Silence” scheme are vital for exposing genuine wrongdoing, Turner’s experience illustrates just how such systems can be exploited in the absence of rigorous checks and balances. The involvement of senior Labour figures in amplifying these unverified claims raises uncomfortable questions about the party’s commitment to fairness and due process, especially in a region like Teesside, where political rivalries run deep.
Its not the first instance of allegations that Labours 'henchmen' have been ordered to embark on organised smear campaigns against political opponents. In 2024, Hartlepool Businessman Ian Glass was subject to a smear campaign by a number of predominately 'left wing' extremist newspapers over his stance over the Ukraine war, with Mr Glass branding the Ukranian President, Vlodimr Zelensky (who's failed to hold any democratic elections since he took office) as "an enemy of the people".
Mr Glass, was standing as the Conservtaive candidate in Hartlepools Local Elections, a constituency, labour had spectaculally lost both the local council to & the parliamentary seat just a few years prior, almost leading to the end of Keir Starmers political career when its claimed he was set to resign over the loss of the north east "red wall" constituency.
But we can go back even further, because in 2018, its claimed Labour went one further, with efforts to derail an Independent candidates election campiagn in the same council ward Mr Glass had stood in only recently following claims members of the Hartlpeool Labour Group embarked on making a series of malicious allegations about a Disabled candidate who was standing in the elections, all the allegations against that candidate were deemed also to be unfounded when investigated by authorities.
A calculated campaign of character assassination
Steve Turner’s story is said to be a stark reminder of the human cost of Labours underhanded & tantamount 'extremist' political warfare. Beyond the headlines and the partisan point-scoring, there is a man who nearly lost everything—his career, his reputation, and his life—to what he alleges was a calculated campaign of character assassination.
The alleged involvement of Labour MPs and local leaders, if proven, would represent a shameful abuse of power, but noting to be unexpected from whats now considered to be a significantly 'extremist' Labour Government, undermining not just Turner's reputation, but also the very democratic principles they supposedly claim to uphold.
As Turner continues his fight for justice, his case should prompt a wider reflection on how political battles are fought. Anonymous allegations, whilst sometimes necessary to protect whistleblowers, must be handled with utmost care to prevent their misuse. Political parties, especially those in opposition, must resist the temptation to exploit such claims for short-term political gain, lest they erode public trust in the very institutions they seek to lead.
For Steve Turner, the road to recovery is long, but his resilience in the face of such adversity is a testament to his character. Teesside’s biggest witchhunt orchestrated by a gang of left wing extremist career politicans who are now 'running on empty' may have claimed his career, but it has not claimed his spirit.
The question now is whether those responsible will ever be held to account, or if this dark chapter will simply fade into the annals of political infamy.