By Elizabeth Glinka
He added: “We were elected on a mandate and we intend to do it.”
Also among the guests for Sunday’s broadcast were Conservative MP for Kenilworth and Southam Sir Jeremy Wright who said the flag row in Warwickshire was a “distraction” and was not what most people cared about.
“For heaven’s sake, are we really going to discuss what flag flies outside Shirehall in Warwick as a priority for the people of Warwickshire?” he asked.
The row began when the county council’s acting leader – Reform UK’s George Finch – wrote to the authority’s chief executive, asking for the flag to be removed during Pride Month.
The chief executive refused, stating in an email response that such decisions rested with her – a stance described as a coup d’etat by Zia Yusuf, head of the national party’s department of government efficiency.
It later emerged that the authority did not have the technical advertising consent required to fly a Progress Pride flag outside HQ. The flag’s design differs from the standard Pride rainbow flag which is not subject to permission.
The flag has since been removed following the end of Pride Month.
Cooper said there was “nothing whatsoever” wrong with the Pride flag, but council buildings should “represent the people of the county and of the United Kingdom”.
“If you want to fly a Pride flag or any other flag, go and find a flag pole and fly it,” he said.