The Reform councillor was criticised over social media posts he made about the police and Black women.
A Reform council leader has shown how lacking in principles he is, after jumping to the defence of one of his councillors who was criticised over social media posts he made about the police and Black women.
In yet another scandal involving a Reform politician, Staffordshire County Council councillor Peter Mason called the police “a bunch of politically indoctrinated British hating scum” on X and also wrote rote: “What a surprise a statue of a fat arsed black woman”, in what are now deleted posts.
The Independent reports that after the posts were revealed, Mason, who is also the cabinet member for highways at the council, apologised and said he regretted his choice of words.
The paper reports: “In the statement he sent to The Independent, he added that the posts were written during a difficult personal time when he was impacted by grief and redundancy.”
But rather than show real leadership and criticise the remarks of his councillor, council leader Ian Cooper sent an email to Reform councillors to defend Mr Mason, claiming he had come under “targeted political attack” since standing for Reform.
He wrote in his email: “These personal attacks are a deliberate attempt by Reform’s political opponents to distract from their failings and to politicise an individual’s right to express personal views.”
He continued: “Peter’s comment regarding a statue of a Black woman was a critique of public art, not a personal attack on an individual. His views on policing also reflect concerns shared by many, including recent reporting that, the Metropolitan Police is expanding its ‘woke’ workforce while facing a £250m funding gap and cutting thousands of frontline jobs.”
Are these the kinds of values Reform are proud of? Rather than condemning bigoted and hateful views, its leaders chooses to provider cover to those engaged in such disgraceful behaviour.
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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