Ukip Councillor Peter Lagoda Quits After 'Racist' Remarks Outrage

'Racist' Ukip Councillor Quits After Controversial Remarks
|
Open Image Modal
Steve Williams

Ukip county councillor Peter Lagoda has quit after an independent review found that controversial remarks he made during a fire station visit were "racist, derogatory and discriminatory".

Lagoda, a councillor in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, has resigned the party whip and will now sit as an independent on Cambridgeshire County Council, the local party confirmed. He is also understood to have resigned his party membership.

Councillor Paul Bullen, leader of the Ukip group on Cambridgeshire County Council, told HuffPostUK: "That case has now been concluded and I have, today, informed Cllr Lagoda that he will not be re-instated to either the Group or the Party. Cllr Lagoda has informed me that he will be resigning from UKIP with immediate effect but that he intends to continue to sit as an independent councillor.

"From a UKIP perspective, this subject is now concluded."

Lagoda's remarks at Wisbech fire station caused one of the firefighters to to lodge a complaint, as he admitted to describing his sister to the firefighters as a "w*g" and spoke about his "Mongol" relatives having children with "slanty eyes".

Cambridgeshire County Council said that an independent member of the standards committee had looked into a firefighter's complaint about Lagoda's remarks at the fire station and found that Cllr Lagoda had brought the council into disrepute.

"The remarks by Cllr Lagoda could be interpreted by a reasonable person as racist, derogatory and discriminatory in nature," the review concluded.

"They've taken it the wrong way and my English must be far greater than theirs because I looked in the dictionary and a person from Mongolia is called a Mongol. It's always the British that bastardize words."

The council review concluded that Cllr Lagoda's remarks were "not acceptable in every day use. It was also the view of the independent person that Cllr Lagoda breached the members's code of conduct of treating others with respect and bringing their office or authority into disrepute".

"It was noted by the independent person that Cllr Lagoda did not dispute he had used the words but these were part of a private conversation and not in the public arena.

"It was also highlighted that the councillor had shown remorse and that the fire authority personnel had indicated the approach suggested by the independent person was acceptable to them."

The councillor, who was suspended by Ukip after being charged with benefits fraud , was given a "strong recommendation" to write a "sincere apology" to Cambridgeshire Fire Authority and attend equality and diversity training.

Cllr Martin Curtis, Conservative leader of Cambridgeshire County Council, told HuffPostUK: "Cllr Lagoda has letting the people he was elected to serve down. If we had a power of recall for errant Councillors, I am certain he would be forced out of office, he should stand down and allow someone to be elected who can carry out the role effectively and with appropriate dignity."

Ukip's Highs And Lows
COMING UP INTO THE WORLD: Ukip Are Born(01 of22)
Open Image Modal
Ukip was founded in 1993 by LSE professor Alan Sked in opposition to the Maastricht treaty. (credit:Alamy)
GOING DOWN: 1997 General Election(02 of22)
Open Image Modal
Ukip fielded 193 candidates but only got 0.3% of the vote, losing out to the just as Europhobic Referendum Party, led by billionaire publisher and politician, Sir James Goldsmith, (left), who got 2.6%.Sked resigned saying Ukip "they are racist and have been infected by the far-right", a reputation they have yet to shake.He was replaced with Michael Holmes (credit:PA)
GOING UP: James Goldsmith Dies(03 of22)
Open Image Modal
The unfortunate death of the rival party leader led to the dissolution of the Referendum Party with many members subsequently joining Ukip. (credit:Alamy)
GOING UP: 1999 Elections To European Parliament(04 of22)
Open Image Modal
Ukip got 7% of the vote and gained three MEPs.This jolly looking chap, Jeffrey Titford, was one of them. (credit:PA)
GOING DOWN: Holmes Resignation And 2001 General Election(05 of22)
Open Image Modal
Holmes was forced to resign in 200 due to a conflict between himself and the Ukip's National Executive Committee.Titford became leader.In the following year's general election Ukip failed to gain any seats with a 1.5% of the vote.(The man pictured is not a member Ukip but a pictorial representation of the misery felt by the party during this difficult time) (credit:Alamy)
GOING STEADY: Knapman Takes Over(06 of22)
Open Image Modal
Titford decided he didn't really like being leader and so was replaced with this fellow, Roger Knapman in 2002.Knapman attracted some attention in 2006 when he employed a team of Polish builders to renovate his home despite his anti-immigration stance. (credit:PA)
GOING WAY UP: 2004 European Elections (07 of22)
Open Image Modal
Building on their previous European success, Ukip went on to gain a (in relative terms) massive 12 MEPs in 2004. Godfrey Bloom, seen here far-right, immediately triggered a storm of protest over women's rights within hours of starting work in the European Parliament. After being given a place on the Parliament's Women's Rights Committee he told journalists he wanted to deal with women's issues because "I just don't think they clean behind the fridge enough", adding: "I am here to represent Yorkshire women who always have dinner on the table when you get home. I am going to promote men's rights." What a charming gent... (credit:PA)
GOING DOWN TO THE PERMA-TANNED BOTTOM: Kilroy(08 of22)
Open Image Modal
The deliciously named, orange-faced TV agony aunt, Robert Kilroy-Silk, caused a tabloid frenzy when recruited to Ukip in 2004.He was elected an MEP that year but did nothing to hide his ambitions for leadership causing some consternation amongst the ranks.Silk left the party after nine months.His TV show, Kilroy, was cancelled after he wrote an article in the Sunday Express titelled 'We owe Arabs nothing'. (credit:PA)
GOING UP PAST THE TORIES: Hartlepool By-Election(09 of22)
Open Image Modal
Ukip finished third in 2004 above the Conservatives who came fourth.In other news this flour incident also happened. (credit:PA)
GOING DOWN TO THE BEACH: 2005 General Election(10 of22)
Open Image Modal
Ukip were rubbish.They didn't gain a single seat and their best result was third place in Boston & Skegness. (credit:Alamy)
GOING UP. OR DOWN DEPENDING ON YOUR OPINION OF THIS MAN: Nigel Farage(11 of22)
Open Image Modal
September 2006 saw the introduction of Farage as leader. (credit:PA)
GOING UP WITH BAGS OF CASH(12 of22)
Open Image Modal
In 2009, Tory party donor extraordinaire, Stuart Wheeler, jumped ships and gave Ukip £100,000.He was, rather unsurprisingly, expelled from the Conservative party for his treachery. (credit:Alamy)
GOING DOWN WITH SOME DODGY FRIENDS: Geert Widlers(13 of22)
Open Image Modal
In 2009 Farage stood down as Ukip leader so he could contest the seat of Buckingham.Lord Pearson was chosen to replace him.Here is Pearson at a joint press conference with well-known Dutch extreme right-winger and general Islam hater, Geert Wilders.#justsayin (credit:PA)
GOING UP THROUGH THE POLITICAL GLASS CEILING: 2009 European Elections(14 of22)
Open Image Modal
A climate where the electorate were slightly miffed at a banking crisis at the amount some MPs were claiming on expenses was a bonus for Ukip.They gained 16.5 per cent of the vote, or to put it another way, they beat the government. (credit:PA)
GOING DOWN AGAIN: 2010 General Election(15 of22)
Open Image Modal
Farage lost to John Bercow.Once again, Ukip failed to win a single seat.This disaster however was slightly overshadowed by... (credit:PA)
GOIND DOWN RATHER QUICKLY AND WITH A SLIGHT BUMP: Plane Crash(16 of22)
Open Image Modal
Farage was a passenger in this plane when it crashed on the morning of the elections. He broke his sternum, ribs and punctured a lung.The cause of the crash was put down to the Ukip banner the plane was towing getting caught in aircraft's tail. (credit:PA)
GOING UP A LITTLE BIT: Farage Re-Election(17 of22)
Open Image Modal
Farage was re-elected in August 2010.Lord Pearson said: "The UKIP crown returns to its rightful owner".How nice of him... (credit:PA)
GOING UP HIGHER THAN THEY'D EVER BEEN BEFORE: Rotherham By-Election(18 of22)
Open Image Modal
UKIP's Jane Collins came second in the 2012 vote with Ukip's highest ever share in a parliamentary election. (credit:PA)
GOING UP SO MUCH IT MADE FARAGE DO THIS FACE: Eastleigh By-Election(19 of22)
Open Image Modal
Cometh the hour, cometh the grin.This was a huge coup for Ukip as they took second place in front of Labour and the Conservatives in 2013. (credit:PA)
GOING DOWN WITH RACIAL PREJUDICE: Election Candidate Scandals(20 of22)
Open Image Modal
Farage admitted the party couldn't possibly have vetted all their candidates in the 2013 local elections.Unfortunately for Ukip it meant a number of slightly dubious characters being exposed in the press.This lady for example is alleged to have said: "Only the Zionists could sacrifice their own in the gas chambers."That, quite frankly, is simply not on. (credit:Facebook)
FLYING HIGH: Local Elections 2013(21 of22)
Open Image Modal
He's right to look chuffed with himself.Ukip came second in the South Shields by-election and got 26 per cent of the vote in the local elections.The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats both lost seats.The biggest surge by a fourth placed party since WWII does not bode well for the coalition in 2015. (credit:PA)
(22 of22)
Open Image Modal
This slide has nothing to do with anything but this picture can NOT go to waste... (credit:Getty Images)