A councillor is under investigation after sharing a “shockingly racist meme” on social media. 

Councillor Ken Robson has been reported to Durham County Council after sharing a Facebook post last week. 

The Aycliffe West councillor, and member of The Durham Group, apologised for his actions but accused a rival councillor who reported him of “political point scoring”. 

In a post on Facebook, Cllr Robson said: “On the advice of the monitoring officer I have been requested to issue an apology for sharing a post which may have been taken by some as a racist meme and which was reported by political opponent Eddy Adam for the purpose of political point scoring. 

“Therefore if anyone was offended by the post I unreservedly apologise.”

The post has been removed from Cllr Robson’s Facebook timeline but is being considered by Durham County Council’s monitoring officer. 

When contacted by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Cllr Robson said he was unable to comment on an active investigation. 

He said: “I admit a complaint has been made to Durham County Council, however I cannot possibly comment until a judgement has been made in a live investigation. Any comment will be made at the conclusion of the investigation. You will note however that an apology has been posted to anyone offended.”

Labour’s Cllr Eddy Adam shares the Aycliffe West division with Cllr Robson. Responding to the allegations against him, Cllr Adam hit back at his political opponent’s “Inappropriate actions”. 

He said: “I am disappointed that Cllr Robson, a senior councillor and former Town Council Mayor, is trying to hide behind his grave error of judgment by making this out to be a political issue. He openly shared a shockingly racist meme and it needed calling out.”

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“I pointed this out on his post, giving him the opportunity to remove the post, but he decided to ignore it, and posted further rants which led me to believe that he agreed with the sentiments in the meme.

“My complaint relates to Cllr Robson’s inappropriate actions and the breaking of the councillors code of conduct, which I believe he fell short of the standards expected of a person in public life. The monitoring officer is yet to provide a judgement on this whole shocking saga.”

A Durham County Council spokesman confirmed: “We have received a complaint and it is being considered by our Monitoring Officer in accordance with established procedures.”