County councillor punished for raising safeguarding concerns after sex toys were displayed at LGBTQIA+ event near children's area at Exeter Library

Max Thompson, Campaigns Officer

12 October 2026

Over the last year, the Free Speech Union has grown increasingly alarmed at the number of councillors who have been silenced or punished by unelected council officials for raising concerns — including on safeguarding — and for speaking up for their constituents.

We have seen some truly shocking cases, but the one relating to Councillor Michael Fife Cook, the leader of Reform UK on Devon County Council, is arguably one of the most egregious.

On 19 October 2025, Exeter Library, which is described on Tripadvisor as a "great library for anyone with young children", hosted a Young Person's Day event, part of Exeter's Out There Queer Fest and billed as a "bold celebration for LGBTQIA+ young people and friends". At this event, a stall in the foyer, right next to the children's art and colouring area, displayed a large purple prosthetic penis and literature promoting "chemsex".

Just over a month after the event, Cllr Fife Cook wrote to fellow councillors and officers at Devon County Council setting out his opposition to what had been allowed to take place.

"I think this makes it clear our council officers can't be trusted in safeguarding children."

He added:

"This makes us all complicit in promoting and encouraging sexualisation of children."

To any sane and responsible individual, it is obvious that deeply sexualised material and objects should be nowhere near young children. One mother reportedly complained that she had been forced to explain to her young children, aged six and seven, what the sex toy was for. It was wholly inappropriate.

One would have expected the council officers in receipt of Cllr Fife Cook's complaint to recognise this as a safeguarding failure, apologise, and pledge to carry out a review and do better in future. That was not the case.

Instead, two senior officers responded by complaining that Cllr Fife Cook — a democratically elected councillor — had himself breached the Code of Conduct. An independent investigator found that Cllr Fife Cook had a case to answer in relation to courtesy and respect, bullying, and compromising the impartiality of council staff. The Standards Committee then went further than the council's own investigator: it found not only a failure of courtesy and respect, but also that Cllr Fife Cook had brought his office or authority into disrepute, a breach the investigator had not identified.

The committee subsequently ordered Cllr Fife Cook to make a formal written apology to the complainants and to undertake training with the council's Monitoring Officer.

While this case is shocking, it is not surprising. Sadly, in many of the cases that the Free Speech Union has handled, councillors who were simply doing their job have faced vicious accusations of bringing their authority "into disrepute". Many of these complaints are submitted anonymously, and they tend to come from political opponents who conceal their political motives.

These vexatious complaints are a threat not only to free speech, but also to our democracy. A democratically elected councillor should be free to raise concerns about safeguarding, challenge council officers, and hold public authorities to account without facing disciplinary action for expressing an unwelcome opinion.

Speaking to The Telegraph, Lord Young of Acton, General Secretary of the Free Speech Union, said of the case:

"It beggars belief that a councillor has been penalised for bringing his council into disrepute for raising safeguarding concerns about an LGBTQ event at which a dildo was displayed in front of children at a public library.
"Surely the council officials that gave permission for this event to go ahead at a family library — described as a 'bold celebration for LGBTQIA+ young people and friends' — are the ones guilty of bringing the council into disrepute?
"One mother complained that she had to explain to her children, aged 6 and 7, what the giant prosthetic penis was."

Lord Young added:

"Councillors must be free to speak up about issues of concern to their constituents without risking being put through a disciplinary process by town hall Sir Humphreys wearing rainbow lanyards."

The Free Speech Union is now supporting Cllr Fife Cook with his case and, on 30 September, alongside his lawyers, Sharpe Pritchard, sent Devon County Council a pre-action letter threatening a legal challenge.

It is clear that the Standards Committee's decision was irrational, breached Cllr Fife Cook's Article 10 right to freedom of expression, failed to provide proper reasoning, and showed apparent bias.

This is an incredibly important case — and one that we must win. A ruling in Cllr Fife Cook's favour would remind every Monitoring Officer and council standards committee across England that the Code of Conduct must not be weaponised as a tool to silence elected representatives and political opponents.

Please donate to our legal defence fund here. Your gift will help us take Cllr Fife Cook's case to the High Court and stand behind every councillor punished for speaking up for the people who elected them.

Read more in The Telegraph.