City councillor suspended over Lord Provost remarks
Last updated 6th Aug 2025
Aberdeen councillor Jennifer Stewart has been suspended for four months after she was found to have made “serious” comments towards the Lord Provost.
A complaint regarding the independent member’s behaviour at multiple council meetings had been lodged by colleague David Cameron back in October 2023.
The Standards Commission for Scotland held a hearing at the Town House to consider if she has breached the councillors code of conduct.
What issues did they look at ?
The first issue focused on whether the Hazlehead member had been disrespectful towards, discriminated against and bullied the Lord Provost at council meetings in December 2022 and again in March, April, September and October 2023.
The second issue was to consider if she had been disrespectful towards Mr Cameron in a press article published in October 2023.
In it, Mrs Stewart had said that the Lord Provost delayed on intervening at the meeting due to his age, he had delayed in allowing her to speak, he was misogynistic and had been sexist towards her.
The ethical standard’s commissioner looked into the matter by watching around 24 hours of webcast footage and reading transcriptions of the meetings.
Mr Cameron had made nine issues of complaint, but six were found not to have breached the code.
However, the remaining three were up for debate by the standards commission panel.
Standards Commission ruling explained
Representative for the ethical standards commissioner, Angela Glen, explained the reason for the decision.
She stated that after studying webcam footage, it showed Mrs Stewart to be “continuously speaking over the complainer, accusing him of disrespectful conduct, misogynistic or sexist conduct, sexual harassment and religious discrimination”.
The commissioner believed that if Mrs Stewart didn’t think Mr Cameron’s behaviour had improved, she should have taken action privately away from the council chamber.
However, due to the comments being made at a public meeting, the commissioner believed Mrs Stewart’s conduct was “disrespectful and discourteous” of Mr Cameron.
Jennifer Stewart's remarks in the chamber
During the October 2023 meeting, Mrs Stewart had made comments on Mr Cameron’s age that she seemed to suggest was affecting his ability to run it efficiently.
After the Lord Provost had taken a pause during proceedings, she said: “And perhaps Lord Provost, with the greatest of respect, if it is your age that is making a delay…”
It was even suggested that Mrs Stewart went on to “mock” the Lord Provost by changing the pitch of her voice and tone to imitate him.
The commissioner stated that these actions showed Mrs Stewart was “not acting with respect” towards Mr Cameron.
It was even suggested that Mrs Stewart’s actions could have been seen as an “attempt to undermine him” and potentially get him removed him from the role.
Ahead of making her argument, Mrs Stewart said it was “stressful” and she had been preparing for this hearing for a long time.
"I stand by my words"
She said: “I’ve taken the oath and it’s my opinion, valued judgement is that the complainer is a misogynist.
“He has been sexist towards me and he looked at me venomously, which may have been due to his age.
“I stand by my words.”
“They may have been shocking, exaggerated, they may even have been provocative, shocking and perhaps aggressive.
“They may have been incorrect, but they were made at a time where chaos ensued in the council – In my 18 years I had not seen anything like that before.”
Mrs Stewart finished making her case by saying: “I haven’t committed a crime.
“I have called out this behaviour, I have said that I won’t tolerate it.
“If people like me don’t call it out or are penalised by calling it out, then what hope is there for other women who want to be involved in politics?”
But after a brief break to deliberate, the standards commission panel decided to suspend the Aberdeen councillor for four months.
While they didn’t believe the press article had breached the code, they argued her public behaviour did.
Mrs Stewart has been approached for comment.