“I plead guilty to being a normal Bristolian, not a sad career politician who has no sense of humour or sense of perspective”
Cllr Richard Eddy speaking during the housing motion debate at full council on Tuesday, March 10, 2026, where he joked that he had wanted to slit his own throat, with Tory group leader Cllr Mark Weston (right) with his head in his hand (Image: Bristol City Council/YouTube)
An outspoken Tory councillor has been cleared of wrongdoing over a ‘tasteless’ joke he made during a Bristol full council meeting about wanting to ‘slit his own throat’.
Cllr Richard Eddy (Conservative, Bishopsworth) did not breach the member code of conduct, the authority’s monitoring officer and director of legal services Tim O’Gara has ruled after an initial assessment.
The decision notice, which has been obtained by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, reveals that the complaint came from Cllr Ed Fraser (Green, Eastville).
Cllr Fraser has criticised the findings and said councillors should be more responsible when raising subjects like suicide, branding the comments a ‘cheap punchline’.
But Cllr Eddy said: “I plead guilty to being a normal Bristolian, not a sad career politician who has no sense of humour or sense of perspective.
“With me, what you see is what you get.
“I have spent a third-of-a-century working on behalf of fellow Bishopsworth residents, exposing corruption and opposing council waste.
“I will never be a pouncy and precious Leftie councillor, more interested in condoning criminals and promoting the interests of illegal immigrants.”
Cllr Fraser said: “I believe members should be responsible in the way we talk about topics like suicide in public meetings, so I’m disappointed that Cllr Eddy’s comments were deemed to be acceptable.
“He has made tasteless comments in council meetings on several occasions and we have a responsibility to call out poor behaviour in public meetings when we see it.
“I care about this particularly as an autistic person, because the suicide rate among autistic people is much higher than the general population.
“Research from the Universities of Bournemouth and Cambridge published last year showed up to four in 10 autistic people have attempted to end their life.
“As an autistic person in public life who has fortunately never attempted to end my life, I’m going to speak up for my peers who have been through that experience.
“Just last week I was asking questions in public meetings to scrutinise the council’s approach to tracking suicide rates.
“Our communities deserve people representing them talking about such sensitive topics with compassion, not using them for cheap punchlines.
“I’m really heartened to see this council’s suicide prevention strategy come forward, and I’d encourage anyone in our city who can spare 30 minutes this month to join me and begin the Zero Suicide Alliance’s free online courses on suicide awareness, including those on suicide and autistic people.
“I hope Cllr Eddy takes part in these online courses too and uses the opportunity to reflect on the language he used at full council in March.”
At the meeting on March 10 that sparked the complaint, the Tory councillor said: “I recently had the privilege of serving on the economy and skills committee’s development viability group.
“This was a really fascinating experience but also a very sobering one.
“One meeting was so depressing, towards the end I seriously considered slitting my throat.
“It was only the realisation that that act would bring far too much joy to far too many of my political opponents which stayed my hand.”
Conservatives chuckled, including group leader Cllr Mark Weston who also put his head in his hand.
The complaint said the ‘joke’ was ‘gratuitous, offensive and dangerous’.
Mr O’Gara’s decision said: “On initial assessment, Cllr Eddy’s comment was made jokingly during the course of a political debate and does not indicate any potential breach of the code of conduct.
“Whilst acknowledging the complainant’s strength of feeling about this matter, based
on the material considered as part of this initial assessment, the monitoring officer is of the view that this matter should be dealt with by no action.”