Councillor apologises over 'shockingly racist meme'

Councillor Ken Robson has been reported to Durham County Council

A councillor is under investigation after sharing a “shockingly racist meme” on social media.

Ken Robson was reported to Durham County Council after sharing a since deleted Facebook post last week.

The Aycliffe West representative, a member of The Durham Group, apologised for his actions and accused a rival who reported him of “political point-scoring”.

A Durham County Council spokesman said: “We have received a complaint and it is being considered by our monitoring officer in accordance with established procedures.”

Mr Robson said: “On the advice of the monitoring officer I have been requested to issue an apology for sharing a post which may have been taken by some as a racist meme and which was reported by political opponent Eddy Adam for the purpose of political point-scoring.

“Therefore if anyone was offended by the post I unreservedly apologise.”

When contacted by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Mr Robson said he was unable to comment on an active investigation.

'Needed calling out'

Labour councillor Eddy Adam shares the Aycliffe West division on the council with Mr Robson.

Responding to the allegations against him, he hit back at his political opponent’s “inappropriate actions”.

He said: “I am disappointed that councillor Robson, a senior councillor and former town council mayor, is trying to hide behind his grave error of judgment by making this out to be a political issue.

"He openly shared a shockingly racist meme and it needed calling out.”

Mr Adam added he had pointed this out on Mr Robson's original post, giving him the opportunity to remove it, but it was ignored, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.