Council leader admits frustration after three-year probe into complaint against Labour councillor

Ted Peskett, 

The leader of Cardiff Council said “everyone is frustrated” with the amount of time it took for an investigation into a councillor who was expelled from the Labour party last month to conclude.

It was announced in May that Cllr Keith Jones, who is currently an independent ward councillor for Llanrumney, was kicked out of the Labour party.

The decision was made following a three-year investigation into a complaint against Cllr Jones, the nature of which has not been made public.

Cllr Huw Thomas, who is the leader of the Labour group at Cardiff Council as well as the leader of the local authority, was asked why it took so long for an investigation to conclude.

Party process

He said: “I am not going to be able to go into details around this. It is a party process.

“I think everyone is frustrated by the length of time it’s taken, but that’s a matter for the party.”

WalesOnline reported last month that it understood the nature of the complaint made against Cllr Jones to be a matter of physical misconduct of a sexual nature.

Cllr Jones was suspended from the Labour party shortly after the local government elections in May 2022.

He was expected to be named in Cllr Thomas’ cabinet that month.

However, just before the first full council meeting after the elections it emerged Cllr Jones was no longer on the list of cabinet members and Cllr Dan De’Ath would be named as the cabinet member for transport.

Cllr Thomas told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “Keith had been chair of the Cardiff Labour group and chair of planning for five years ahead of the [2022] election.

“On that basis I felt he was eligible to be considered for cabinet. When his name was proposed for cabinet, there were concerns raised with me.

“I made it very clear that it needed to be submitted formally so it could be fully investigated. That’s what subsequently happened. He was suspended, he wasn’t put into the cabinet.”

Suspension

At the time of Cllr Jones’ suspension, a spokesperson from the Labour party said: “The Labour Party takes all complaints extremely seriously and they are fully investigated in line with our rules and procedures and any appropriate disciplinary action is taken.”

Following the most recent news on his expulsion, Cllr Jones told WalesOnline the Labour party instructed him there would be legal consequences if he was to discuss “anything to do with this matter” with the media or anyone else.

Cllr Jones was suspended for nearly 21 months in 2013 while the Labour party investigated complaints against him.

He was formally suspended by the party for two years in 2015 after the investigation revealed he had sent inappropriate communications via social media to women party members.