Councillor breached rules in 'bullying' flag emails

A councillor breached conduct rules by sending "bullying" and "intimidating" emails to residents who complained to him about St George's flags being placed on lamp-posts, a panel has found.

On Tuesday, Restore Britain councillor Charles Whitford appeared before a Leicestershire County Council conduct panel, which considered four complaints from people who contacted him over unauthorised flags being put up in Markfield, Leicestershire, in September.

The panel heard Whitford used "inflammatory tropes" regarding Sharia Law and "Islamic colonisation" of Britain in his emails, and accused one of them of being "anti-British".

The panel found Whitford guilty of four code of conduct breaches.

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.

The panel said Whitford should be formally censured and issue a full public apology to be read out at a council meeting on 13 May.

Whitford, councillor for Markfield, Desford and Thornton, had already apologised for the "unprofessional" email responses he sent.

He told the panel he accepted their decision fully, and added: "I have learnt from this obviously and it has cost me dearly.

"My position on cabinet - gone. My future with Reform - gone, and my allowance - gone.

"Whatever you choose to do with me, it cannot be worse than I have already received."

Alex Oram, an investigator hired by the council, said the emails sent by Whitford were "dismissive, personalised and/or confrontational", did not address their concerns about the legality, safety and impact of flag raising, and left them feeling "belittled and/or intimidated".

Whitford told the panel he considered free speech to be important.

Oram told the panel: "Whilst you can say things that are going to offend people, you are not allowed to be personally rude and insulting."

Councillors should be held to higher standards when communicating with the public, Oram added.

The 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.

An investigation report - which was published on Tuesday - contained emails Whitford sent to the complainants.

In the emails, the council meeting was told 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.

The panel also heard Whitford had threatened to make public the identity of one of the complainants, leaving him feeling bullied and intimidated.

The panel concluded Whitford breached the code of conduct by:

• Failing to treat members of the public with respect
• Bullying or harassing a person
• Not promoting equalities
• Bringing the role of councillor, or the council, into disrepute

Pamela Roberts, an independent person asked sit with the panel, said: "What I found a little bit perturbing was on the aspect of not treating people with respect.

"The responses to the complainant seemed to ignore their concerns about safety and intimidation in their own homes, and went straight into questioning their anti-British-ness and political views. I think that was demeaning and could also be very intimidating for them.

"The responses that were sent out could have a chilling and long-lasting effect on the public's engagement with councillors in the future, particularly if they think they are going to write in with a complaint and get a very dismissive, and sometimes aggressive, response back."

Whitford also faced a complaint 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 a further complaint that 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.

As a further sanction, the council's monitoring officer will write a letter explaining the panel's decision, which will be on the authority's website for six months.

Whitford told the panel his inexperience as a councillor, after he was elected in May 2025, was a factor on the way he responded to the complaints.

The panel recommended more training be provided to support new councillors, particularly those in cabinet roles.

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