{"id":1059962,"date":"2026-06-30T16:24:21","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T16:24:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1059962\/"},"modified":"2026-06-30T16:24:21","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T16:24:21","slug":"bristol-councillor-cleared-after-comparing-secondary-school-to-terrorists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1059962\/","title":{"rendered":"Bristol councillor cleared after comparing secondary school to terrorists"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Bristol city Conservativesaid he ‘trusted Hamas more than the school’Economy and Skills Policy Committee (Monday July 28)<\/p>\n

A top Tory councillor has been cleared of breaking the code of conduct after comparing a Bristol secondary school to Hamas.<\/p>\n

Cllr Richard Eddy told a city council meeting in July 2025 that Cotham School \u2018behaves like terrorists\u2019<\/a> during a debate about the long-running row between local residents and the school over shared access to Stoke Lodge playing fields.<\/p>\n

The school and Cllr Ellie Freeman (Green, Bedminster<\/a> ) lodged formal complaints about the \u2018false\u2019, \u2018outrageous\u2019 and \u2018deeply offensive\u2019 comments.<\/p>\n

But an independent investigation has concluded that Cllr Eddy (Conservative, Bishopsworth) did not breach Bristol City Council<\/a> \u2019s rules and that he had a right to freedom of political expression for what he said.<\/p>\n

However, the external solicitor who led the inquiry also called his remarks \u2018undoubtedly offensive, unwarranted and unjustified\u2019, and that they were \u2018irrational and misconceived\u2019.<\/p>\n

During the debate at the economy and skills committee, Cllr Eddy said: \u201cI\u2019ve got no confidence in the commitments or integrity of Cotham School or its governors.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrankly, I prefer to trust the Hamas regime in Gaza, though arguably, they behave like terrorists do.\u201d<\/p>\n

It prompted gasps from councillors in the chamber and calls from Labour<\/a> and Greens for Cllr Eddy to withdraw the comments<\/a> and apologise, but he told one member that they could \u2018whistle in the wind\u2019.<\/p>\n

Afterwards, the councillor doubled down on his remarks<\/a>, saying they were \u2018completely justified\u2019.<\/p>\n

\"Cllr<\/p>\n

Cllr Richard Eddy, (Conservative, Bishopsworth)(Image: Bristol City Council)<\/p>\n

Now, in a decision notice seen by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the council\u2019s monitoring officer and director of legal services Tim O\u2019Gara has agreed with the findings of the independent investigation that Cllr Eddy did not breach the code.<\/p>\n

The investigator\u2019s report said: \u201cThere is no doubt that Cllr Eddy\u2019s comments were offensive to the school, its governors, staff, students and supporters and showed a lack of respect to them.<\/p>\n

\u201cHamas is a terrorist organisation. The school is an academy, a learning institution trying to do its best for its students and community.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe comparison of the school and its governors to a murderous terrorist organisation is entirely unjustified.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is disrespectful and brings his office into disrepute.\u201d<\/p>\n

It said this meant the remarks failed to comply with the member code of conduct.<\/p>\n

But, the investigator added that he must also consider Cllr Eddy\u2019s Article 10 rights under the Human Rights Act over freedom of expression.<\/p>\n

The report said: “Cllr Eddy\u2019s comments were offensive and entirely unjustified.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, they were made in the context of an issue of local interest and were a comment about his opinion on the way the school\u2019s leadership had acted.<\/p>\n

\u201cArticle 10 offers a high degree of protection to political expression and protects not just the substance of what is said but the manner of it.<\/p>\n

\u201cTherefore, although Cllr Eddy\u2019s comments were undoubtedly offensive, unwarranted and unjustified, the high threshold for protection of political expression means that a finding that he has breached the code in making the comments would be an unlawful breach of his Article 10 rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

It said that although what Cllr Eddy said was \u2018undoubtedly offensive\u2019, it demonstrated his view of the actions of the school and board of governors.<\/p>\n

The report said: \u201cIt is polemical but no-one will seriously believe that he is stating that the school is engaged in terrorist acts or violence.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is his, admittedly irrational and misconceived, rhetorical way of describing his view on the difficulties he believes residents have had in dealing with the school and its governors.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople may believe that this finding suggests that a councillor can say whatever they want. It does not.<\/p>\n

\u201cEach case must be considered on its own facts, looking at the specific wording of the comment complained about and the context within which they are made.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy finding is that there has not been a failure to comply with the council\u2019s code of conduct.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking about the decision, Cllr Eddy said: \u201cWith truly scandalous behaviour by Bristol City Council \u2013 such as spying on the activities of special needs parents and the refusal to divulge the electronic correspondence of former Labour mayor Marvin Rees<\/a> \u2013 it is astonishing that certain public bodies like Cotham School governors and sad, self-important local politicians seek to cow public representatives from doing their legitimate job.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe monitoring officer\u2019s judgement that my public comments on the behaviour of Cotham School governors did not breach the councillors\u2019 code of conduct is commonsensical and a refreshing comment on the right of local councillors to speak truth unto power and not to be cowed into submission by those who are prepared to use the code of conduct policy for their own scurrilous ends.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Bristol city Conservativesaid he ‘trusted Hamas more than the school’Economy and Skills Policy Committee (Monday July 28)…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1059963,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[8818],"tags":[10139,14343,381,3893,748,527,14486,2266,393,4884,14144,528,13072,285,13466,16,15],"class_list":["post-1059962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bristol","tag-bedminster","tag-bishopsworth","tag-bristol","tag-bristol-city-council","tag-britain","tag-conservative-party","tag-cotham","tag-education","tag-england","tag-great-britain","tag-green-party","tag-labour-party","tag-marvin-rees","tag-politics","tag-terrorism","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116839990673057302","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1059962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1059962"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1059962\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1059963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1059962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1059962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1059962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}