A local Reform councillor has launched a legal challenge against a verdict that he brought the county council into disrepute in a row over a sex education stand at a library event.

Michael Fife Cook, Yelverton Rural county councillor, is seeking a judicial review after Devon County Council’s standards committee took issue with his email to councillors stating that “our council officers can’t be trusted in safeguarding children”.

The panel, in a July meeting behind closed doors, found he breached the council’s code of conduct in failing to treat others with respect and courtesy and had brought the council into disrepute.

Cllr Fife Cook was told to apologise to the two council officers who complained and attend diversity training, in a row which erupted after he and other councillors campaigned to prevent a repeat of part of the 2025 Out There Queer Fest, billed as ‘a bold celebration for LGBTQIA+ young people and friends’.

The festival’s young person’s day in Exeter Library included a charity stall in the foyer providing sexual health education which left some parents of young children taken aback, with its large purple model of a penis and a condom fitting machine. It attracted a number of complaints.

After being told the council could not prevent another event, albeit the sex education stand would be moved to an upstairs room, Cllr Fife Cook sent an email copied to all county councillors, stating: “I think this makes it clear our council officers can’t be trusted in safeguarding children, what consenting adults do with each other in the privacy of their own homes is their concern, but any normal person would look at what was on show at this event and would believe it was not appropriate for young children.

‘To me this makes us all complicit in promoting and encouraging sexualisation of children. To allow future events like this in property owned by the public will be rightly deemed as reprehensible and we will all be at fault. There may be people among us who feel it’s acceptable for adults to steal children’s childhoods, I truly hope not, but I am not among them.”

He added: “I think we need to remind DCC officers why councillors are elected, to bring in the human element and common sense.”

Two officers complained about the email, sparking the standards board hearing.

Cllr Fife Cook, who is leader of the Reform UK group on Devon County Council, is now seeking a judicial review in the High Court of the standards committee verdict on his actions.

Legal firm Sharpe Pritchard is taking up the claim, with the action being supported by the Free Speech Union Limited.

The councillor has previously described the standards committee verdict as “a stitch up”.

His lawyers are arguing that Cllr Fife Cook’s controversial email could not be considered to have brought the council into disrepute as it was only sent to councillors, not broadcast to a wider public. They are also citing in Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects the right to free speech.

Cllr Fife Cook wants an apology from the council as the outcome.

He said: “This shouldn’t be about party politics, it’s really about democracy and free speech, because if they can get away with gagging me, they will feel they can gag anyone.”

He added: “The fact is if somethng is right, you do it, and this is right. The public elect people like me to speak for them, to fight their corner. If we have a situation where officers felt they could make decisions, that isn’t how democracy works.

“It is always ‘shoot the messenger’. If DCC managers to shut me up, it means they will shut up anybody, particularly those who are sotto voce or nervous, from saying what they think. Our job is to stand up for people, even if it does make us unpopular.”