It’s all kicking off in Bristol. On Friday, Reform UK announced that the multimillionaire Arron Banks was going to be their candidate for the mayoralty of the West of England. But the self-proclaimed ‘bad boy of Brexit’ faces opposition from overzealous apparatchiks on Bristol City Council. Officials from the Green-run authority have told Banks that he is not permitted to use his favoured slogan of ‘Banksy for Bristol’ on party literature – despite it, er, literally being a linguistic play on his name.
Now, Reform UK has written to the council to demand that this be overturned. In a letter, seen by The Spectator, the party complains that:
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 to go one hour 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.
The letter notes that ‘no relevant trademark right is infringed by Mr Banks’s use of the slogan’ and argues that ‘no reasonable elector would understand the phrase “Banksy for Bristol” as indicating endorsement by or association with the anonymous artist’. They add that the slogan is:
Unmistakably political speech, not a commercial falsehood…. At no stage has Mr Banks attempt to assert he is connected with or competing with the artist Banksy. Mr Banks is standing for public office using a name he has been known by for the majority of his life as detailed in numerous public articles.
Indeed, Mr S would love to meet any elector who confuses the achingly right-on street artist with the iconoclastic businessman. Reform allege that blocking the ‘Banksy for Bristol’ slogan was ‘a deliberate contrivance brought at the eleventh hour to act as a spoiler to Mr Banks’ campaign.’ They warn the council that ‘we will not tolerate this approach moving forward.’
Clearly this is going to be a race to keep an eye on…
Comments