A Reform UK councillor is suing his council with the help of the Free Speech Union after being ordered to apologise and undergo training for raising safeguarding concerns about an LGBTQ stall displaying a purple prosthetic penis next to a children’s colouring area at a family library in Exeter. The Telegraph has the story:
A county councillor is suing his local authority after being censured for criticising a stall that promoted gay sex.
Michael Fife Cook, the leader of Reform UK on Devon county council, was ordered to apologise and undergo a good-conduct training course after raising concerns over the stall’s proximity to the children’s art and colouring area at a library in the county.
The stall contained advice about “chemsex” – where gay and bisexual men engage in sexual activity while under the influence of dangerous drugs – and displayed a large purple prosthetic penis.
Mr Fife Cook is refusing to apologise and has instead begun legal action against his council. The case threatens to cost local taxpayers hundreds of thousands of pounds in legal fees.
The legal claim was launched after an event held at Exeter library last year as part of the city’s Out There Queer Fest, marketed for young people as a “bold celebration for LGBTQIA+”.
The Eddystone Trust, a local sexual health charity, was given a stall in the library’s foyer that contained “sexual paraphernalia” displayed in full view, according to Mr Fife Cook’s legal complaint.
The charity’s table included “quite a large purple prosthetic silicone penis” and “a penis-measuring device”. The charity also stocked literature that referred to “chemsex”, according to the legal complaint.
The Eddystone Trust was asked for a comment but had not responded by the time of going to press. On its website, the charity offers advice and support for men who are “part of the chemsex scene”. The charity also offers “chemsex safety packs”.
Mr Fife Cook raised his concerns over the use of the library for the display while it was still open to young children.
In an internal email to a senior council official, copying in councillors who had raised similar concerns, he wrote: “I think this makes it clear our council officers can’t be trusted in safeguarding children… any normal person would look at what was on show at this event and would believe it was not appropriate for young children.”
The email prompted two senior county council officials to make a complaint against Mr Fife Cook, accusing him of breaching its code of conduct and alleging that he had bullied staff.
In July, Mr Fife Cook was found guilty by the county council’s standards board of failing to show respect to officials and bringing the council into disrepute. He was ordered to make a written apology and undertake “bespoke one-to-one training”.
Mr Fife Cook, a 72-year-old great-grandfather, said: “This is an attempt to gag me, but I won’t be gagged. I won’t let them. I am here to speak for the people, and that has to be the priority over everything else.”
His only way to challenge the standards board decision is by seeking a judicial review in the High Court. Were the case to go that far, it could cost an estimated £800,000, he said. “They [the council] have brought this on themselves,” he added.
The Free Speech Union will begin crowdfunding to pay for Mr Fife Cook’s legal claim. His lawyers have argued that his concerns about safeguarding were a “political expression” in the public interest.
In a letter to the council, Mr Fife Cook’s lawyers wrote: “In carrying out his role as an elected councillor, he had every right to raise the concerns he raised, including in the measured manner in which he raised them.”
Lord Young of Acton, the general secretary of the Free Speech Union, said: “It beggars belief that a councillor has been penalised for bringing his council into disrepute for raising safeguarding concerns about an LGBTQ event at which a dildo was displayed in front of children at a public library.
“Surely the council officials that gave permission for this event to go ahead at a family library – described as a “bold celebration for LGBTQIA+ young people and friends” – are the ones guilty of bringing the council into disrepute?
“One mother complained that she had to explain to her children, aged 6 and 7, what the giant prosthetic penis was.”
Lord Young said: “Councillors must be free to speak up about issues of concern to their constituents without risking being put through a disciplinary process by town hall Sir Humphreys wearing rainbow lanyards.”
Worth reading in full, and if you’d like to help with Mr Fife Cook’s costs click here.
Stop Press: The BBC has also covered the story here.
Discussion
Comments
This week across the site:
To join in with the discussion please make a donation to the Daily Sceptic.
Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.
It beggars belief that exposing kids to pornography (if it was on a website it’d probably be age gated) is seen as ok!
Well done the FSU! Top effort, as usual!