Councillor avoids suspension over 'racist meme'

A councillor criticised for sharing a "shockingly racist meme" online has avoided suspension.

Independent Ken Robson was reported to Durham County Council after sharing the post on Facebook in April.

The Aycliffe West councillor apologised for his actions but accused a rival councillor who reported him of "political point scoring".

Mr Robson was ordered to undertake education and diversity training following an investigation by the local authority.

The Facebook post was deleted and considered by Durham County Council’s monitoring officer after a complaint from councillor Eddy Adam.

Labour member Mr Adam, also of Aycliffe West, said Mr Robson was "trying to hide behind his grave error of judgement by making this out to be a political issue", according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

"He openly shared a shockingly racist meme and it needed calling out," Mr Adam said.

He added that Mr Robson ignored requests for the post to be deleted and "posted further rants", which led the councillor to believe that Mr Robson "agreed with the sentiments in the meme".

Mr Adam argued Mr Robson’s actions broke the councillors' code of conduct.

Mr Robson was ordered to issue an apology and undertake training following an investigation by the local authority, which is run by a Conservative, Liberal Democrat and Independent coalition.

The decision notice by the council’s governance lawyer stated: "Whatever [Mr Robson’s] motives or intention may have been, by allowing this post to remain on his Facebook page, and by appearing to justify it when challenged, the likely perception is that he subjected members of non-White ethnic minority groups to personal attack."

It was likely that behaviour had damaged the reputation of the office of Mr Robson and the local authority, the notice read.

Following the judgement, Mr Robson said: "In line with advice from the monitoring officer’s lawyer I have apologised on my Facebook page as requested to anyone who may have been offended."

Follow BBC North East on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected]