Bridgwater Town Councillor will not be punished by Somerset Council

The decision comes following a standards complaint made by Cllr David Fothergill - leader of the county Conservatives - regarding the conduct of Cllr Brian Smedley - Labour leader of Bridgwater Town Council.

In the complaint, Cllr Fothergill references a doctored photograph which depicts fellow Bridgwater and Somerset Councillor Diogo Rodrigues as 'bound, gagged, and having been thrown through a broken window'.

Cllr Fothergill added that the photo "incited violence against another elected councillor and could also be viewed as anti-Semitic, racist and homophobic."

The issue has since been escalated by Bridgwater MP Ashley Fox, who this week wrote his own letter to Ellie Reeves, Chair of the Labour Party, urging her to 'take action'.

The doctored image which was posted to the Bridgwater Labour website, and Cllr Brian Smedley's Facebook page. (Image: Bridgwater Labour)

Despite this, Somerset Council has decided it will take no further action against Cllr Smedley.

Tonya Meers, Deputy Monitoring Officer, (DMO), said that Mr Smedley was not acting in his official capacity as a councillor when publishing the photo to the Bridgwater Labour website and his public Facebook page.

She explained that Cllr Smedley stated that the post was published in June 2024 and written as part of the election campaign, therefore under his role as a member of the Labour Party, not as a councillor.

"Therefore, the DMO does not consider that the code is engaged," Ms Meers wrote in the decision document.

"The DMO is also of the opinion that the article was intended to be ‘tongue in cheek’ and was not intended to cause any incitement of violent behaviour.

"With regard to the social media postings, the DMO noted that although Cllr Smedley refers to himself as a councillor on his social media accounts, he only posted a link to the article with no further commentary. 

"Therefore, the DMO is of the opinion that, if proven, this complaint would be not a breach of the code and there should be no further action."

David Fothergill (right) submitted the complaint in regards to the conduct of Brian Smedley (left). (Image: Archive)

In response to the decision, Cllr Smedley said: "All I would say is that this is a victory not just for freedom of speech, but for the great tradition of political satire, which is clearly not understood by these local Tories - which might be a good thing.

"The joke cartoon was a 'joke' and satirised Cllr Rodrigues (the tory election agent for Fox) constant over stated publicity stunts - no one could see that as bullying.

"It was done during the election period and simply part of the general political campaigning.

"To me, Diogo [Cllr Rodrigues]'s press article - submitted literally as soon as he left the meeting in question, where he had been monopolising the questioning and wasn't thrown out, but asked to leave and did voluntarily - was just another obvious one of these, and I thought gentle humour would be an appropriate way of dealing with it.

"But that was a tough call, as he had been monetising attack adds against the town council and councillors for the months before, then launching petitions and spinning our policies which would then create hostility towards us.

"But I hadn't and wouldn't submit a complaint in return, and never have against anyone.

"I trust this matter is at an end."

Cllr Smedley then directly addressed MP Ashley Fox, who recently raised the incident with the Labour Party.

"The Tories - pointless as they now are here in Somerset, and especially in Bridgwater - will have to try better to stop those of us trying hard to make the town a better place and maybe help rather than hinder," Cllr Smedley said.

"Ashley Fox MP has made no attempt to talk to me as leader of Bridgwater Town Council, or any of the ruling group of Labour councillors, and really will need to have a rethink of how he thinks he's going to improve things for the people of this town by just lodging fallacious complaints all the time.

"He also wrote to Labour Chair Ellie Reeves , presumably hoping to get me expelled.

"I have submitted the Standards decision to her as well and trust the matter there is also at a satisfactory resolve."