They Tried to Silence Reform In Durham – So We Changed The Constitution

We enshrined Article 10 rights in the council constitution. Here’s why we won’t change our behaviour – and why you should join the fight.

They tried to silence me. Instead, we made free speech rule in County Durham.

Video Source: Alex Cox on X

They Call it “Change Your Behaviour.” I Call it Censorship.

Watching the Lib Dem high-horse routine in our council chamber is often grim — what with them being the oh-so-virtuous eco-signallers-in-chief, foot clamped in vegan-leather sandal and sock — but this week was a new low.

I pointed out a fact: when the opposition relentlessly smears you — calls you a racist, a far-right bigot, and everything else in their little woke dictionary — it de-humanises people. See Charlie Kirk if you don’t believe me. See Nigel Farage with the fleet of security that Keir Starmer so blithely cut. See the attacks on Jews in the name of the so-called “genocide” that never was. And sometimes it can genuinely lead to trouble.

In my first few months on Durham County Council, a man turned up not once but twice, not to discuss an issue, but to threaten to “punch my head in.” I relayed this story as the illiberal pearl-clutchers lambasted me for supposedly hate-filled activism. Their response? The opposition leader stood up, not to apologise for their language, but to tell me to “change my behaviour.”

I was even accused by the Lib Dems of being homophobic for removing the latest iteration of the flag of the pronoun paramilitaries in the Pride movement. I’ve since called all of my ex-boyfriends like a teenager with an STI, notifying them that I am, apparently, a gay-hating bigot. Terrible, eh?

Remember “bollocks to Brexit” from our dear, kind and tolerant “democrats”? They have the cheek to suggest I’m the divisive menace in British politics.

Let’s be plain-speaking for a second (shy bairns get nowt). When a politician tells a plain-speaking, patriotic voice to “change his behaviour” in a chamber, they’re not asking for better manners — they’re demanding silence. They want you to shut up, sit down and swallow their liberal-left dogma.

It is censorship by managerialism, complete with a trans flag lanyard. Great day of being shouted at, but it made me think. One of my political heroes is John Lilburne. If Freeborn John could stare down Cromwell’s tyranny, I can handle today’s spineless Labour and virtue-signalling Lib Dems.

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Your Cash, Their Complaints

Here’s the truly wicked part — and the bit that should make every taxpayer in Dipton and across the country furious.

The same opposition member smugly announced that my outspoken views (views shared by millions of ordinary, law-abiding Britons) have cost the council £11,000 in complaints as of mid-September. £11,000 — on one bloke from a County Durham council estate!

Think about that. The Lib Dem and Labour opposition are using your local tax money — money that should fix potholes in Stanley, clear the bins or protect vital services — to fund an administrative witch-hunt against politicians they simply don’t agree with.

They spend your cash on:

• Smearing opponents with childish labels.

• Complaining when the opponent punches back with truth.

• Wasting £11,000 of public money processing their own indignation.

This isn’t governance. This is a Liberal-Left racket designed to silence dissent and bankrupt common sense.

Reform UK doesn’t care about the complaints desk or the woke brigade’s feelings. We care about the people’s voice and the people’s pocket. We need to sweep out the authoritarians hiding behind their “tolerance” (double speak from a forked tongue!) and end this gross misuse of taxpayer funds immediately.

Stop paying for the Liberal-Left’s fragile egos.
It’s time for Reform. The truth is expensive to them, but it’s free to us. 🇬🇧

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Our Outspoken Rebellion

Now for the good news. We’ve secured a free-speech amendment to the Durham County Council constitution — a change to the Member Code of Conduct that enshrines councillors’ rights to speak their minds.

Drawing on Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, it makes explicit that elected representatives enjoy enhanced protection for political opinions. Robust, provocative and even offensive speech is part and parcel of democratic discourse, and restrictions can only be justified if they are lawful, necessary and proportionate. And guess what? If you disagree with us we have this thing called democracy that so many of our ancestors fought and died for.

This isn’t just a procedural tweak; it’s a statement that we won’t be muzzled by shrill progressives. It stops the woke mob from weaponising the complaints process to shut down councillors they dislike. It ensures those of us representing you can call out nonsense without being dragged through kangaroo courts funded by your council tax.

By codifying thick skins and thin bureaucracy into our constitution, Durham is leading the way in defending free speech — the bedrock of democracy. Let the Lib Dems splutter into their Waitrose salad selections; we’ll keep speaking for the people and telling it like it is.

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Join the Free-Speech Rebellion

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