Brighton & Hove Councillor Dismisses Complaints Process As 'Talking Shop'

A councillor has dismissed Brighton and Hove City Council’s standards regime as a “laughing stock and talking shop” after two complaints against him “timed out”.

Conservative councillor Robert Nemeth became the subject of complaints after remarks that he posted on social media.

Two of the complainants have shared their disappointment with the standards process, with the council having been unable to convene a hearing before the local elections on Thursday 4 May.

Both complaints were deemed serious enough for a standards panel hearing in a decision made by the council’s monitoring officer Abraham Ghebre-Ghiorghis and an “independent person”.

However, in both cases – and in another case relating to a complaint about Councillor Nemeth’s conduct – he did not respond to any communication from council officials at any stage.

The council said that it had not been possible to form a politically balanced standards panel before the election was called.

Councillor Nemeth is not standing for re-election although the council has previously held a standards panel hearing after a councillor left office.

One of the complaints about Councillor Nemeth followed social media posts responding to a comment on car and bicycle use.

Councillor Nemeth referred to “sneering single-issue fanatics” and “nutcases”. A report by a senior council lawyer said that this was “not consistent with civil and respectful debate”.

The report also highlighted how other people responded to Councillor Nemeth’s remarks including a comment from a third party:

“Language like this from a councillor undermines the work of their authority’s professional officers and makes life more dangerous for people just trying to get around.”

Alluding to the “Nolan principles” – seven principles of public life such as integrity, objectivity, openness and honesty – the commenter added: “Then against, Nolan is a distant memory.”

Mr Ghebre-Ghiorghis asked Councillor Nemeth to delete the posts but he did not respond.

The report concluded that Councillor Nemeth had made comments that brought his role into disrepute, potentially undermining public engagement and public confidence.

The person who made the complaint asked not to be named but said:

“I’m really disappointed that almost a year and a half after submitting a complaint, the councillor in question has not been punished and that there has been no consequences for their actions even though they have been found to have broken the council’s own code of conduct.

“It’s a joke that councillors can say or do what they want and get away with it. In fact, this councillor actually revelled in it and boasted about it afterwards.

“If our elected representatives from all parties aren’t held to high standards, what happens to our city and democracy?”

In February, a further nine complaints were made about Councillor Nemeth’s response to a national news story headlined:

“Parent fury as Brighton primary schools tell staff NOT to say ‘mum’ and ‘dad’ and use ‘grown ups’ instead to avoid stigmatising ‘non-traditional’ families.”

Councillor Nemeth referred to a “nutty woke policy” while the council responded to the Daily Mail article by saying:

“Recent reports claiming four Brighton schools are not allowing the words ‘mum’ and ‘dad’ to be used are untrue.”

Brighton and Hove News covered the debate and the complaints about Councillor Nemeth’s remarks. He described the author, journalist Jo Wadsworth, as “a political activist” who had “a bit of an obsession” with him which was “very creepy”.

In response to Mrs Wadsworth’s Brighton and Hove News article headlined “Yet more standards complaints lodged against Hove councillor”, Councillor Nemeth said that the headline was “close to being a lie”.

Mrs Wadsworth’s complaint said that his comments breached the council’s code of conduct because they were “potentially defamatory, being incorrect and damaging to her professional reputation as a local journalist”.

Two other people complained about Councillor Nemeth’s response to Mrs Wadsworth’s article, describing them as “damaging to her professional reputation” and “insulting”.

One of the third parties said:

“Both comments are grossly disrespectful, breaching the code. If an officer had made them, they would have been dismissed.”

The council report said that Councillor Nemeth had not responded to a question asking whether he felt he was “unfairly targeted” or “making an attempt at humour”.

His comments and the lack of response were deemed to breach of the code of conduct.

Mrs Wadsworth said:

“At a time when politicians are increasingly using social media to attack journalists, I thought it was important to take a stand when a councillor did this to me.

“So I was very disappointed when I learnt a panel couldn’t be convened in time – and it’s even more disturbing to hear this could be the result of deliberate stonewalling by his party.

“It’s crucial journalists stand up to attempts to smear and discredit them in this way which is why I’m now sharing the officer’s report.”

When the council’s Audit and Standards Committee met last Tuesday (18 April), the former Labour council leader Daniel Yates said that the delays had made the process a “laughing stock”.

Councillor Yates, who previously chaired the Audit and Standards Committee, told the meeting at Brighton Town Hall that a standards panel should be able to sit even if it was not possible to have one member of each party present.

Green councillor Leo Littman – who also formerly chaired the committee – shared his frustration that the situation would “just go away” because of the election.

He said that after council time and money had been spent on the complaints process.

Councillor Nemeth said:

“It is entirely fitting that a small band of sad time-wasters have had their own time wasted after trying to play the system.

“The hours that they have quite obviously put into trying to tell tales on those who have actually served the community could have been put into positive actions but, instead, these activists and bloggers tried to game the system.

“Regardless, their actions would have had no effect whatsoever as the standards board is essentially a laughing stock and a talking shop.

“It only exists to facilitate the whims of a few stalker-like left-wing activists who try to be clever in scoring points over others.

“It is entirely right and proper that the system has treated this latest round of spurious moans with contempt.”