‘Not a culture war’: the council that won its case over England flags on lampposts

Tim Bearder, the leader of Oxfordshire county council, says ‘this will serve as a blueprint for other councils wishing to stop this irresponsible behaviour.’ Photograph: Antonio Olmos/The Guardian

While Londoners scurried from building to building seeking shade on another baking hot day this week, one man paused in the shadow of the Royal Courts of Justice.

The leader of Oxfordshire county council, Tim Bearder, was not only happy in the shade of the court’s gothic towers. He had just won a landmark legal victory.