Enfield Council leader loses conduct appeal

The council’s conduct committee dismissed claims by Cllr Nesil Caliskan that she had not bullied Cllr Yasemin Brett before she temporarily stripped her of her cabinet post in November last year.

It upheld the original ruling of the council’s monitoring officer Jeremy Chambers and told the council leader to apologise for her actions.

Cllr Caliskan was unable to attend her appeal hearing at a meeting of the committee on Wednesday (September 4).

But she sent in a written statement setting out her claims that the council’s resources had been used to carry out a politically motivated attack on her.

In the statement, Cllr Caliskan said she had experienced “scrutiny and criticism that other leaders have not” because she is a 30-year-old female.

She added: “My predecessor certainly did not face a smear campaign or a campaign of harassment that I have, which I believe are rooted in conscious and unconscious bias.

“I believe if I was a newly elected 30-year-old male leader, the criticisms I would have faced would have been rather different.”

Cllr Caliskan removed Cllr Brett from her then post as cabinet member for public health following a cabinet meeting on November 14 last year.

The council leader claimed she took the decision because Cllr Brett had broken the principle of collective responsibility – a convention that all members should publicly back cabinet decisions.

Former cabinet member for public health Cllr Yasemin Brett

Cllr Brett subsequently lodged a complaint about the way Cllr Caliskan behaved towards her leading up to her removal from the cabinet post.

Following an independent investigation by solicitor Frances Woodhead, Mr Chambers ruled the council leader had bullied Cllr Brett and breached the code of conduct.

But Cllr Caliskan appealed against the decision, claiming several aspects of the investigation were flawed.

She said Cllr Brett’s complaint was already being dealt with by the Labour Party and was not a matter for the council’s conduct procedure.

She also claimed all the witnesses interviewed during the investigation were her political opponents.

At Wednesday’s conduct committee, Mr Chambers and Ms Woodhead defended their investigation.

Mr Chambers said: “I followed the correct procedures, fairly, and do not accept there was an abuse of process.”

The monitoring officer said Cllr Caliskan’s claims she had been subjected to a “witch hunt” and “smear campaign” had been taken into account during the investigation.

Mr Chambers added: “I strongly rebut the assertion that I simply accepted an independent report and rubber stamped it.

“I also refute strongly any suggestion that the investigation was biased, or that I personally used council processes and procedures, or allowed them to be used, for political purposes.

“These are serious allegations, without foundation.”

Mr Chambers said he had asked Cllr Caliskan to retract the allegations and apologise to him, but she had not done so.

Committee members discussed the evidence in private for 40 minutes before inviting the public back in to deliver their verdict.

The council’s deputy monitoring officer, Jayne Middleton-Albooye, said the committee found the leader had breached the code of conduct.

Cllr Caliskan will be told to provide a written apology to Cllr Brett.

She will also be instructed to read out a statement at November’s full council meeting acknowledging the decision to remove Cllr Brett from her cabinet post was done “with undue haste and in an inappropriate fashion” and ran contrary to the code of conduct.

The deputy monitoring officer added that a mediated meeting should take place between the two councillors to improve communication and behaviour.