Liberal Democrats across the North East have gone into hiding over Islamophobic comments from one of their own candidates, with the local MP, MEP and chair of the regional party refusing to say whether they still support the so-called “Redcar racist” Dave Stones, who ranted that a topless bar and pork restaurant should be built next to a mosque.
Despite having signed an EDM against racism in football and criticising the BNP’s racist policies, Redcar MP Ian Swales has kept a damning silence over Stones’ remarks, despite being contacted by both Scrapbook and concerned constituents. While his office claimed he was “on holiday”, Liberal Democrat MEP Fiona Hall, and regional boss Frank Hindle have not responded to verbal and written requests to comment.
Frantically attempting to save his candidacy, Dave Stones has attempted to suggested that statements can magically appear under his name on Facebook without him posting them. He told Scrapbook yesterday:
“I’ve heard about the comments but I’ve not seen them.”
Indulging this fantasy further in a statement this afternoon, he claims.
“Someone forwarded me a Facebook status that is clearly in poor taste and instead of deleting it as I should of done I kept it on my page.”
Holidaying MP Swales has a surgery scheduled for tomorrow morning so we expect to be hearing from him shortly.
6 Comments
They have very long holidays, these people, don’t they. And they seem to be able to afford to go away too!
Amazing.
So, did he keep it on his page when someone else posted it, as he has said, or did he copy and paste them as the region has suggested. Or, was it neither?
Islam is a threat to Britain and outlawing islamic sharia law is the governments plan… Watch it happen.
I wouldn’t let this one go. One of the explanations is downright laughable, the other completely inexcusable.
Proquci – your comment doesn’t make any sense, but then you sound like an idiot so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.
Also, this guy should be sacked, possible just for using ‘should of done’ where he means ‘should have done’. Bloody Lib Dems, coming over here, tricking their way into our government jobs, can’t even speak the language!
Comments on Facebook aren’t really in the same league as illegally invading a country and causing the deaths of a million Muslims though, is it?
Can this be referred to RCBC standards committee – breaching equalities standards, hate speech, bringing into disrepute?
Cleveland Police?
Not just Mr Stones but known associates and apologists
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[...] Follow @PSbook!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js?cda6c1";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs");Lib Dem silence over islamophobic candidate Ron Paul campaign: “Please don’t wave guns at our event” The Queen cornered Tony Blair in bid to save fox hunting Will Welsh secretary quit over High Speed 2 project? Skip to contentHomeAbout this siteAdvertiseDonateLegalContact us« Welsh secretary told Cameron “sack me over HS2″, so will she now quit?Lib Dems’ racist council candidate slammed by regional press12:38pm Mon January 9thShareTweetAdd a commentPressure is growing on Liberal Democrat politicians to comment on a growing scandal after the Sunday Sun – a regional paper in the North East — picked up Scrapbook’s exclusive on Islamophobic comments by a Liberal Democrat council candidate.Dave Stones, who is running in a by-election in Redcar, wrote that a pork restaurant and topless bar should be built next to a mosque, adding chillingly “Then we’ll see who’s tolerant”. But local MP Ian Swales and MEP Fiona are yet to make any comment or even clarify whether Mr. Stones still has their backing.Stones’ election agent was active on Twitter over the weekend, trying to downplay a series of anti-Islam comments as a joke:“They were some jokey things as far as I know that have been doing the rounds which should have deleted.”What planet are they living on?This entry was posted in Liberal Democrats, Local government and tagged dave stones. Bookmark the permalink. Post a comment or leave a trackback: Trackback URL.ShareTweet« Welsh secretary told Cameron “sack me over HS2″, so will she now quit?Post a Comment Cancel replyYour email is never published nor shared.NameEmailWebsiteCommentYou may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong> [...]
[...] by the party’s attitude towards it, with accusations of a cover-up as senior party leaders refused to act by suspending Stones. Neither local MP Ian Swales, Nick Clegg or party HQ would responded to [...]