Janet Cleverly, a councillor, made the remarks to a call handler who had moved to the UK from Sri Lanka in 2022 and had been in the job for four weeks. According to major media reports, Cleverly interrupted the handler and said: 'I'm sorry, can I speak to somebody who's speaking English?' She later sent an email to the cabinet member responsible for environmental matters complaining about the handler's English.
A customer services manager listened to a recording and raised concerns about Cleverly's 'unnecessary' tone. The call handler did not want to pursue a complaint. A council monitoring officer assessed that the handler's English was fluent and 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', and that the 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 apologized and said she felt 'absolutely awful' about upsetting the handler, adding: 'I was absolutely mortified by my actions that day.' Cllr Kevin Whitehead said the phone call showed a 'lack of etiquette' but challenged any suggestion there was a racial element.
The ombudsman, Michelle Morris, found that Cleverly's 'underlying motivation' was that she was 'irritated from the outset by the way the call handler spoke'. 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. It is unclear what specific extra training Cleverly was required to complete or whether she faced any further disciplinary action.