A Warwickshire councillor who covered his mouth with bright green tape to highlight a four-month ban from cabinet debates remains at loggerheads with leader George Finch.

Cllr Keith Kondakor wore a strip of fluorescent green tape with the words 'Banned from speaking' written across it during the meeting of Warwickshire County Council's cabinet on Thursday, February 12.

The Green Party councillor was permitted a three-minute slot as a public speaker in line with council rules but covered his mouth at the end of his address.

He later had two attempts to join the debate turned down by the chair of the cabinet – the panel of councillors Reform UK that takes day-to-day decisions – and county leader Cllr George Finch.

The chair of any county council meeting has discretion to allow other councillors to speak or not. Traditionally, all elected officials who wish to contribute ahead of cabinet decisions being taken are permitted to do so, something Cllr Finch has upheld with everyone bar Cllr Kondakor.

Cllr Kondakor told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that the long-running impasse is over him asking too many questions about Cllr Finch alleging that he had been subjected to a politically-motivated attack while on a night out in Nuneaton in October 2025.

"I don't mind that being a private matter but if it is being used to attack the Green Party then I think we need some consistency and I want to ask some questions," he said.

"Politics is quite toxic. I don't want to make it more toxic but we can't be silenced when (it is being claimed) 'the Greens stir up trouble and that is why I got attacked', not letting us ask any questions about the attack.

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"We are here to scrutinise. As one of the more vocal councillors it is most inconvenient not to be able to ask questions."

Cllr Kondakor said he had been summoned to a meeting with Cllr Finch and Monica Fogarty, the county council's chief executive. 

"I was effectively dragged in to apologise to him but it is not my role to avoid asking questions," he continued.

"I tried to be as responsible and dignified as possible."

Asked whether the chief executive had offered a view, Cllr Kondakor said: "She seemed very keen on me apologising, making it all easy and go away."

Asked if the chief executive had given any reasons for him to apologise, Cllr Kondakor said: "I got to the point where I left because it was a case of me being bullied into apologising and I wasn't (going to). It was a very short meeting.

"I can't apologise when I don't think I have done wrong. I am very much of the opinion that we need to ask questions.

"The way it went into the Mail Online, the way it has been used on GB News, we get a lot of abuse in the Green Party."

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Cllr Kondakor went on to express concern at what he considers to be a lack of detail in the public account of the alleged attack.

When asked whether he had gone as far as making accusations against Cllr Finch, he said: "We are getting to the point, because of the lack of answers, we are getting more accusatory. It has been going on for months and months."

Describing his inability to join cabinet debates as "regrettable", Cllr Kondakor added: "It is the sort of thing that never happened in the days of (previous leader) Izzi Seccombe.

"There was a time when people would agree and work together. It is a sign of the more hostile attitude we have nowadays."

At the meeting of cabinet on January 27 – two weeks before the tape incident – Cllr Finch was asked by Councillor Sarah Boad why the ban was in place. He said that "Keith still has not apologised for comments he has made about me publicly, which is not acceptable". 

Responding to Cllr Kondakor's most recent comments, Cllr Finch told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that Cllr Kondakor had apologised and that "we shook hands and we moved on". 

"It was fine. I was going to let him speak in that meeting, I really was. Then he puts green tape across his mouth," said Cllr Finch.

"We are talking about serious things, SEND kids, disabled kids, the running of the council, and he demeans himself like that. The people of Weddington must not be happy with his behaviour as a councillor, it is a joke."

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Cllr Kondakor acknowledged a further conversation had happened but refuted each element of Cllr Finch's account, insisting he had not apologised.

"If we had agreed for me to speak at cabinet then there would have been no need for the tape or for me to put down to speak as a member of the public," he said.