Paul Embery has won his claim for unfair dismissal against the Fire Brigades Union after he was sacked for giving a pro-Brexit speech at a 2019 rally. He’d worked there for 20 years.

In a statement Embery celebrates:

“I maintained all along that my sacking was politically-motivated. It is clear from its findings that the judge-led tribunal panel shared my view.”  

He added:

“While I am glad that, after two years, justice has finally been served, I take no pleasure in the outcome. It was an honour to serve as an FBU official for 20 years, and I remain to this day a proud member of the union.”

Extracts of the judgement read by the judge concluded “It would appear right from the start of the investigation… that there was an agenda to have the claimant removed”:

“The investigation… looked no more than a witch-hunt… The ambit of the investigation, when looking at the facts, was bizarre. The tribunal had the feeling that it was pre-determined”

Perhaps the union will learn to focus on protecting firefighters, rather than stoking political fires…