Labour councillor Jas Athwal has distanced himself from the Redbridge Library Summer Reading Challenge after they used taxpayers money to hire a naked monkey with a massive dildo to perform for children. This idea from the Labour run council clearly flopped…  

On Friday night Jas tweeted:

“This is disgusting. I have taken immediate action. Upon finding out, I contacted Vision [and they] confirmed that the contract has been cancelled, an apology is sought in the first instance and an explanation will be scrutinised by the council’s legal team.”

Though Redbridge library have now apologised for the “inappropriate” costume, they commented “if you’ve got it, flaunt it” on social media earlier in the day. They also apparently blocked concerned constituents and labelled them “lecturing Johnny come latelys'”. Redbridge council spent the day rubbing its constituents the wrong way… 

Vision RCL – who arranged the event – reportedly received £740,000 as part of the government’s cultural recovery fund. Guido doesn’t understand why the government is monkeying around with taxpayer’s money…

UPDATE: Wes Streeting voices his deep concern about the events and the costume, and asks how “anyone involved – including your staff – thought that a costume described by one national journalist – with depressing accuracy – as a ‘Rainbow Dildo Butt Monkey’ was appropriate for family audiences around our libraries and public realm, let alone a festival aimed at promoting literacy amongst children.”