KC councillor censured for once more breaching codes of conduct

By Adrian Zorzut, Local Democracy Reporter

A West London councillor has been censured for the second time in 18 months after residents and staff complained about her behaviour.

Members of Kensington and Chelsea council’s audit and transparency committee said Eva Jedut, an independent councillor, had breached the councillor code of conduct in relation to six complaints made against her.

At a conduct hearing on February 10, which was partially held behind closed doors to protect the identities of the complainants, the committee said Cllr Jedut had also failed to participate in a bespoke social media training programme.

Cllr Jedut had been referred to training and support services in 2023 after being censured for sharing offensive and derogative tweets about refugees and Muslims.

At the time, Cllr Jedut said the posts were taken out of context. In its decision report issued in February, the committee said: “In coming to its decision on sanctions, the committee took into account that at a hearing of previous complaints, it recommended a number of measures, including a bespoke programme of training and support which councillor Jedut chose not to take up. This support and training is still available, and the committee urged councillor Jedut to take this up.”

They found Cllr Jedut breached the the code of conduct in not respecting and valuing staff and officers, behaving in a way which would likely bring the council into disrepute, failing to promote and support high standards of conduct through leadership and example, not behaving in accordance with policies, protocols and procedure, abusing a councillor’s authority and ‘not behaving with ethics and integrity.’

Details surrounding the new complaints remain scant as the council refused to release further information claiming it wanted to keep complainants’ identities private. However, an ethics report issued shortly before the February meeting found complaints were made by seven staff members about the councillor’s interactions with them or their teams and comments she allegedly made about those staff to others.

According to the report, the council’s findings were shared with Cllr Jedut for her to comment on, but she failed to engage with investigators. One investigator said this was something she had not experienced in her long career investigating complaints.

During February’s meeting, Cllr Jedut called for the hearing to be adjourned claiming the probes were not conducted ‘in accordance with proportionality’.

She also claimed investigators disregarded her ill-health and treated her with contempt, alleging the investigations had been rushed and were not presented to her before their publication.

Cllr Jedut, who represents Delgarno ward, said, in addition to being unwell, she had cut her hand and could not respond to investigators. She also said her council email account had been blocked days before the hearing and so she could not send information for the committee to consider.

She further claimed she was a victim of a character assassination and hadn’t been given sufficient time to respond to the complaints.

The Chair overruled her request, saying investigators had given her ‘reasonable time’ to respond and had extended deadlines due to her health issues.

Handing down its decision, the committee wrote: “Following careful consideration, it had found that councillor Jedut’s conduct, in relation to six complaints, had breached the councillor code of conduct.

“The committee agreed with the findings of the investigating officer in relation to allegations made by staff in connection with councillor Jedut’s conduct towards them personally or staff in their team – and that councillor Jedut’s comments and actions towards staff were personal and gratuitous.”

The committee recommended the full council proceed with a formal censure. Cllr Jedut criticised the investigatory process but again declined to provide mitigating evidence. Cllr Jedut says she has appealed the decision.

Last year, Cllr Jedut was censured by a council committee after she said refugees had ‘no work ethic’ on X. She was also ordered to undertake social media training after sharing a number of tweets appearing to suggest there was a ‘Muslim supremacy’ in the UK.

She became an independent councillor after the Labour Party removed the whip, having been originally elected as a Labour councillor.

Pictured top: Cllr Eva Jedut (Picture: KC council)