Norwich Labour councillor under investigation over Facebook post

A cabinet position has been on hold while Labour investigate the post by Sally Button

Labour says it has launched an investigation after a councillor published a social media post featuring a racist cartoon character.

Sally Button, who sits on Norwich City Council, shared a picture on Facebook in 2017 which included the character once used by Robertson's jams.

Its caption said: "I asked for a tattoo of the bloke from The Jam. This doesn't look like Paul Weller to me."

Ms Button said she was "truly sorry" for the post.

The post, which featured two crying laughing emojis, alongside the name of The Jam singer, was reported by the Greens to the council's monitoring officer on Friday, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

The monitoring officer said it was not a matter for them to deal with and passed the complaint on to the Labour group.

Ms Button had been due to be appointed to the authority's cabinet but it has been put on hold while Labour investigated the complaint "as a matter of urgency".

It is understood she was to be named cabinet member with responsibility for social inclusion, which includes championing equality and diversity.

The character was the fictional creation of American author Florence Kate Upton who wrote a series of children's stories inspired by a minstrel doll at the end of the 19th Century.

It first appeared on jars of Robertson's jam in 1910 before being ditched by the company in 2001.

The image is widely considered to be an example of racist stereotyping.