Downham Market: Doug Lawson resigns from town council

Doug Lawson, who was also the deputy mayor of Downham Market, has told its town council he is standing down with immediate effect.

He said in an e-mail he and his wife had "worked extremely hard against the odds at considerable personal cost and suffering for nearly two and a half years" to protect the people and businesses of Downham Market and the council's staff from "unlawful activities".

Doug Lawson has told fellow Downham Market town councillors that he is resigning (Image: Doug Lawson)

He added: "In order to remain compliant with the professional code of conduct by which I am bound and the terms and conditions of my professional insurance policy, I am left with no option but to submit my resignation, with immediate effect."  

The council has been at centre of a long-running row which was first sparked by changes to the town's market at the end of the first Covid lockdown and led to multiple resignations from councillors and officials.

Mr Lawson was accused of "woeful behaviour" and West Norfolk council's standards committee upheld three complaints against him last November.

Members heard he considered himself "at war" with his fellow councillors and had "repeatedly strayed away from what they would consider acceptable" within the "rough and tumble of local politics".

A report for the standards committee said his language was "hugely offensive" after he described the LGBTQ+ community as an "optional lifestyle grouping" like "necrophiliacs" and "bestialists".

Doug Lawson has resigned from Downham Market Town Council (Image: Sarah Hussain)

An investigator's report concluded there were "multiple examples" of him making offensive comments to other councillors and members of the public.

The committee called for Mr Lawson to be censured and removed from committees.

At a special meeting later that month Downham town council voted in favour of censuring him and requiring him to undergo ethics and standards training, but voted against removing him from committees.

After announcing his resignation, Mr Lawson said: "I've had it up to the back teeth with all the dodginess."