Janet Cleverly, an independent councillor on Newport City Council, made the comments to a call handler who had only been in the job for four weeks after moving to the UK from Sri Lanka in 2022. The incident occurred in August 2024 when Cleverly was reporting a fly-tipping issue. According to multiple reports, Cleverly interrupted the handler and said: 'I'm sorry, can I speak to somebody who's speaking English?' She also said: 'Sorry? I can't understand anything you're saying. Speak English.' Cleverly followed up the call with an email to the cabinet member responsible for environmental matters, criticizing the handler's English.
A customer services manager listened to a recording of the call and raised concerns over Cleverly's 'unnecessary' tone. The call handler did not want to pursue a complaint. However, a council monitoring officer assessed that the call handler's English was fluent. The monitoring officer said Cleverly's comments were 'consciously or otherwise, racially motivated' and 'discriminatory'. The customer service team manager said Cleverly had been 'derogatory' and 'highly inappropriate'.
Her 'underlying motivation' was that she was 'irritated from the outset by the way the call handler spoke'.
The call handler was left feeling 'belittled and inferior'. Cleverly told the ombudsman she had 'lots of BME friends' and said it had been a 'really frustrating' phone call, disagreeing that the handler spoke clearly. She later apologized and said she felt 'absolutely awful' about upsetting the handler. In a statement, Cleverly said: 'I was absolutely mortified by my actions that day.'
The committee found Cleverly breached three areas of the council's code for members relating to equality, respect and consideration of others, and disreputable conduct. The ombudsman, Michelle Morris, found that Cleverly's 'underlying motivation' was irritation from the outset by the way the call handler spoke. According to Daily Mail - News, Cllr Kevin Whitehead described the phone call as showing a 'lack of etiquette' from his colleague but challenged any suggestion there was a racial element. It remains unclear what specific actions will be taken as part of the extra training Cleverly must complete, and whether she faced any further disciplinary action beyond the reprimand and training.
The phone call showed a 'lack of etiquette' from his colleague but challenged any suggestion there was a racial element.