Cheshire Police panel chair asked to resign in LGBT lanyard row

Bob Fousert said wearing an LGBT lanyard was political

A policing watchdog chairman has been urged to resign after he criticised an officer for wearing a rainbow lanyard.

Bob Fousert, chair of the Cheshire police and crime panel, claimed it was political for the force's deputy chief constable to don LGBT neckwear.

In an open letter, Cheshire's Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) David Keane urged Mr Fousert to resign, saying his views were "outdated" and "inappropriate".

Mr Fousert has been asked to comment.

The force's Deputy Chief Constable Julie Cooke is national lead on LGBT issues for the National Police Chiefs Council.

Mr Keane said a rainbow lanyard clearly "represented a culture of openness, inclusivity and equality".

'Wholly inappropriate'

Mr Fousert, a lay member of the panel that oversees the force's PCC, told a meeting of the police and crime panel the senior officer was in breach of impartiality regulations.

He said: "LGBT, whether you like it or not, is a political issue."

In his letter, Mr Keane said he believed Mr Fousert's suggestion that Ms Cooke should have been "subject to disciplinary action" was "wholly inappropriate" and "brought the panel into disrepute".

He said he had since received "a high level of correspondence" which expressed "disappointment and sadness" and "outrage" over Mr Fousert's comments, and asked Mr Fousert to consider resigning "with immediate effect".

Ms Cooke earlier tweeted that she would "continue to show my support for the LGBT+ community internally and externally".