Green-Labour coalition that runs Bristol City Council, triggered by the council’s prohibition of mayoral candidate Arron Banks’ three-word campaign slogan “Banksy for Bristol”.
Mr. Arron Banks, well-known for his role in both the UKIP and Brexit movements, was introduced as the Reform candidate for his home territory of Bristol and West England at the Reform Birmingham conference last Friday.
Arron Banks has been known for many years in business and politics by the nickname “Banksy” and had previously adopted “Banksy for Bristol” as his campaign motto. This cleverly utilises his connection with the area, something that the famous, unidentified graffiti artist, also pseudonymously known as Banksy, who started his famous graffiti as part of the Bristol underground scene with collaboration between artists and musicians in the 1990s also uses. In 2008, The Mail on Sunday claimed that the artist Banksy’s real name is Robin Gunningham, who was born in Yarte, some 12 miles from Bristol.
Arron Banks at the Reform Conference in Birmingham, courtesy of Reform broadcast
Despite Arron Banks having used the campaign slogan since the date of his candidacy being announced last Friday, Bristol Council waited until there was only an hour left before the council’s submission deadline for election branding, including campaign slogans closed to tell Mr. Banks that it would not accept this slogan.
Subsequently, Reform has initiated a strong and critical response against the Bristol City Council’s intervention, claiming that the council deliberately sought to compromise their candidate’s election hopes and is considering legal action against the Council and the officers concerned. Lawyers consulted have suggested that the Council’s claim that the slogan infringed copyright was complete nonsense.
“Mr Banks has very publicly and openly been using this campaign slogan since his candidacy had been announced and we are extremely concerned that this ‘concern’ was not voiced at any time before it was too late to respond.
In a scathing rebuttal, Reform UK penned a strongly worded letter to the Bristol City Council, categorically rejecting the imposed restrictions on their mayoral candidate’s slogan were lawful. The letter asserted:, “With respect, any such restriction would be legally misconceived, unjustified, and liable to immediate challenge…..To compound matters, this was flagged to Mr Banks and his team with an hour to go before the deadline to publish his literature, essentially preventing any meaningful ability to contest this decision and effectively barring Mr Banks from running the campaign he had intended”.
This would be an unlawful interference with the electoral process.
Campaign Slogan courtesy of Arron Banks
Reform say “Mr Banks has very publicly and openly been using this campaign slogan since his candidacy had been announced and we are extremely concerned that this ‘concern’ was not voiced at any time before it was too late to respond”.
This deliberate timing has effectively eliminated any opportunity for a meaningful appeal and has severely hampered Mr. Banks’ ability to conduct his campaign as originally planned.
Reform UK also highlighted the transparency of Mr. Banks’ campaign, noting, ‘Mr. Banks has publicly and consistently employed the ‘Banksy for Bristol’ slogan since the inception of his candidacy. Reform is “deeply troubled” by the fact that the council’s purported ‘concern’ regarding potential copyright issues was not raised at any earlier juncture.
“On this basis, Mr Banks had to make the decision to either remove the slogan or have no campaign materials by the deadline.”
Intellectual Property lawyers confirmed that there was no infringement as the campaign did not breach passing off laws and as Mr Banks had been using the name “Banksy” for some time without any objection from the unknown graffiti artist – ‘if the artist objected to Mr Banks’ slogan, he has had ample time to inform the party or the council or even Mr Banks himself’.
“No such objection has been received, and the suggestion that someone could mistake campaign materials featuring pictures and text from Arron Banks as intending to be a public ‘reveal’ of the long-held secret identity of the artist Banksy is laughable at best,” said Reform.
“The slogan is unmistakably political speech, not a commercial falsehood. There is no damage to goodwill, nor any actionable confusion. The common law tort of passing off has no application here. ….At no stage has Mr Banks attempted to assert he is connected with or competing with the artist Banksy. Mr Banks is standing for public office using the name “Banksy” that he has been known by for the majority of his life as detailed in numerous public articles.”
Reform have accused the left-wing nature of the Bristol Council of “a deliberate contrivance brought at the eleventh hour to act as a spoiler to Mr Banks’ campaign and we will not tolerate this approach moving forward in this campaign”.
Dr Nick Lockett, a barrister and solicitor and specialist in Election Law says that, in his opinion, “there is no basis under electoral legislation for Council to take this action, but it is not uncommon for council election officers to get the law wrong, but rare for this to be done deliberately”.
Mr Banks opted to remove his slogan from the candidate booklet that the Council is required to produce by law “under duress”, but Reform have insisted the top businessman would continue to use his nickname “Banksy” as he has throughout his business and personal life.
Bristol council was approached for comment by the Daily Mail who broke the story but of course were unwilling to put anyone forward to make comment as they are now in defence mode expecting a lawsuit.