Police probe columnist over ‘ hate crime’... after he mocked the Welsh

A POLICE and crime commissioner was yesterday told to ‘stick to the day job’ after revealing his force had investigated a columnist for mocking the Welsh.

Arfon Jones, the elected £70,000-a-year commissioner for North Wales, said he had been ‘inundated’ by complaints about Rod Liddle’s description of the Second Severn Crossing as ‘linking their rain-sodden valleys with the First World’.

Mr Jones used a PR company to publicly reveal that North Wales Police had assessed whether Mr Liddle’s piece in The Sunday Times represented a criminal offence, calling into question whether he was heeding rules about respecting the force’s ‘operational independence’. Former police officer Mr Jones, who has previously called for cannabis to be sold from off-licences, also complained to the Independent Press Standards Organisation – despite the bridge being 100 miles from the area he represents. After it emerged both complaints were likely to be rejected, he even suggested new laws were needed to make insulting the Welsh illegal.

Last night Mr Jones, a Welsh nationalist, was accused of interfering with policing priorities and told to concentrate on cutting crime in North Wales.

David Davis, Conservative MP for Monmouth, said: ‘Just don’t read Rod Liddle’s columns if you’re easily offended, and don’t waste the police’s time on it.’

So long as it allows people to get out of [Wales] pronto, should we worry about what it’s called? Rod Liddle on the Second Severn Crossing