Surrey councillor reprimanded for re-posting far-right and disrespectful social media content

But some members have accused Spelthorne Borough Council of “silencing discussion” and “keeping people down”.

Councillor Denise Saliagopoulos allegedly reposted “far right offensive material” on X, formerly Twitter, from Tommy Robinson, a far-right activist, and the far-right political party Britain First.

She was also found to have made comments on Facebook, responding to another post, disrespected other councillors and the council claiming they “play Russian Roulette with taxpayers’ money”.

A majority of members voted to publicly reprimand Cllr Saliagopoulos at a full council meeting on April 24, after an independent investigation found she had breached the code of conduct.

Despite 18 councillors supporting the decision, 13 chose to abstain in the named vote.

Cllr Darren Clarke slammed the complaints as being “used freely by the coalition [council] to silence discussion and dissent” instead of allowing Cllr Saliagopoulos to speak her mind.

Although Cllr Saliagopoulos did not ‘engage’ in the investigation, according to council documents, she did not deny any of the posts were made and criticised the ordeal as a “ridiculous complaint”.

The Independent member for Riverside & Laleham has been a councillor for nearly 10 years, and was the mayor for Spelthorne last year.

Screenshots in council documents show Cllr Saliagopoulos retweeting posts from Tommy Robinson and Britain First without adding any comment.

The investigator found the X posts could be viewed as: “Discriminatory and/or biased against immigrants and/or Islam amongst others.”

She said the posts do not show the kind of respect and equality that is expected of those holding public office.

The investigator added: “Whilst it is true to say that a “retweet” does not necessarily indicate support for the original tweet, there is no evidence to suggest [Cllr Saliagopoulos] was distancing themselves from the original tweet in either case.”

Facebook comments apparently made by Cllr Saliagopoulos showed the member for Riverside & Laleham as describing councillors as “unreliable”.

Screenshots of the comments show her accusing Cllr Howard Williams and Leader Cllr Joanne Sexton are responsible for “secret borrowings [of] more millions” and that the she had been refused access to these reports.

The investigator said the comments “go beyond robust political debate and cross into personal attack” as the challenge is not on ideas but on the personalities of those individuals.

At full council, Cllr Williams said: “My character was defamed by hundreds of our residents. I ask you how you would feel if someone did that to you or a member of your family?”

He underlined the seriousness of the case, accusing Cllr Saliagopoulos of “lying” to residents and putting restricted council material in the public domain.

But the investigator could not find enough evidence to suggest the Independent member had lied or referenced restricted documents.

Fellow opposition member Cllr Clarke, defended his colleague, saying: “Her job as a councillor is not to agree with what is said but to challenge it, to hold the council to account on behalf of her residents.”

The Conservative member slammed the lead coalition group for using the complaints process to “keep people down so they don’t cause problems, to obfuscate poor decision-making and to divert public opinion away from critical issues”.

Other members flagged the issue as having been going on for almost a year, costing the council much time and money. Officers rebutted that misconduct matters do need to be investigated.

Although Cllr Saliagopoulos was not present at the full council meeting, she sent in a statement which said: “I am deeply dismayed by what is clearly a politically motivated and disgraceful waste of local taxpayers money.

“This administration has turned the council into a laughingstock in the eyes of our residents. It is nothing short of an appalling misuse of officer time.”

She added: “Scrutiny it seems is actively discouraged under the administration, the fact that three opposition councillors were placed in judgement over me and that is beyond ridiculous.

“I have always served with integrity and remain committed to the community that elected me; this will never change.”