Leicestershire County CouncilCharles Whitford was formerly Leicestershire County Council's member for highways, transport and wasteA councillor has apologised after an investigation into a row he had with residents who complained to him about St George's flags being placed on lamp-posts.
Four people complained about Charles Whitford over email correspondence they had with him when they raised concerns about unauthorised flags being put up in Markfield, Leicestershire, in September.
The complainants alleged emails sent by Whitford were "dismissive, personalised and/or confrontational", did not address their concerns about the legality, safety and impact, and left them feeling "belittled and/or intimidated".
Whitford told the BBC he was sorry for responding to their complaints in a "personal rather than professional" way.
At the time of the complaints, Whitford was Leicestershire County Council's Reform UK cabinet member for highways, transport and waste.
He was later temporarily "stood down" from the role by council leader Dan Harrison.
Whitford subsequently quit Reform and joined MP Rupert Lowe's Restore Britain party.
When Whitford switched to Restore Britain, council leader Dan Harrison said he wished the councillor wellThe flag movement gathered pace on social media, with the name Operation Raise the Flags, with those behind it saying they were motivated by pride and patriotism.
Others have expressed discomfort due to tensions running high across England over immigration and the St George's cross often being used to promote far-right groups.
A report, published by the county council on Monday, said an investigation into the complaints concluded Whitford had made "inflammatory assertions about religion/faith matters within an official response to a resident".
In emails seen by the BBC, Whitford claimed the people raising the flags were doing so to "reject" the "destruction of British values" amid an alleged "influx of soon to be millions of mainly Muslim men of fighting age".
Whitford also claimed in the emails that immigrants were coming to make the UK a "Muslim state", leading to one of the residents accusing him of "whipping up hatred" with his words.
"I should not have responded how I did to those emails," Whitford told the BBC.
"I responded in a personal rather than a professional way, and I am happy to apologise for that.
"However, I still think freedom of speech is an important thing."
The report said: "The investigation found that several of Mr Whitford's email responses contained personalised comments directed at residents, rather than a civil explanation of the council's position, and that this approach contributed to residents feeling belittled and/or intimidated."
Whitford is set to attend a member conduct panel at County Hall on 5 May, when councillors will consider the findings of the investigation.
The report's findings were that Whitford:
- Failed to treat members of the public with respect in his email communications
- Bullied at least one complainant, including by communications that could reasonably be seen as intimidating in context
- Brought his role and/or the council into disrepute, particularly given his senior role at the time
- Failed to promote equalities/risked undermining equality duties by including inflammatory assertions about religion/faith matters within an official response to a resident
Whitford could face public censure in the council chamber Whitford also faced a complaint that he "used or was linked to other 'fake' social media accounts", which commented on the flags in Markfield.
However, the report said that complaint was not investigated further "on proportionality grounds".
According to the report, there was further complaint Whitford failed to declare he was the director of a company, Appchatz Ltd, in his council register of interests.
The report said that was a "technical breach" of the councillors' code of conduct, but recommended no further action as it said there was no evidence of any financial gain for Whitford, and that the councillor believed the company had been dissolved.
The report added: "Mr Whitford has confirmed he accepts the findings relating to the email correspondence.
"No further representations have been received from him on the remaining matters addressed in the investigation report."
The conduct panel could ask Whitford to issue a public apology and undergo retraining. It could also ask for him to be formally censured at a future council meeting.
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