Councillor suspended from party after sharing anti-Semitic social media posts
CONSERVATIVE GROUP BARS HIM FOR FIVE YEARS
A DERBYSHIRE councillor has refused to explain “historic social media posts”, believed to be of an anti-Semitic nature, which have led to his five-year suspension.
Philip Rose, who was elected as Conservative county councillor for the Alfreton and Somercotes division in May last year, is believed to have shared controversial posts online as recently as 2019.
He stood as a candidate for UKIP at Erewash and Bolsover, for Derbyshire County Council and Amber Valley Borough Council, before being chosen as a Conservative candidate for the 2021 county council elections.
A statement from the Derbyshire Conservative Group says Cllr Rose has been investigated and suspended from the Tory party for five years, backdated to October 2021.
It stresses that the group referred the matter to Conservative HQ “immediately” late last year once it became aware of “historic social media posts made by Cllr Rose prior to his election as a county councillor in May 2021”. It said the posts predated his membership of the Conservative Party.
These social media posts appear to share anti-Semitic conspiracy theories about “zionist controllers”, attempts at alleged “Jewish supremacism”, including videos from conspiracist David Icke on the topics.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service and BBC attempted to contact Cllr Rose by his listed county council email and mobile phone number, but did not receive responses.
A statement from the Derbyshire Conservative Group claimed that Cllr Rose “expressed fully his genuine regret, embarrassment, and total remorse that he posted the material in question, and he offered his sincere and unreserved apologies”.
The group said Cllr Rose had been suspended from the party for five years, “with readmission dependent on conditions including attendance of the party’s training on diversity and social media use”.
Following a continued lack of a response from the Alfreton and Somercotes division member, the LDRS visited Cllr Rose’s home address in George Street, Riddings.
When Cllr Rose, who came to the door shirtless, was asked if he felt his constituents were owed an explanation, he responded: “No.”
He said: “I haven’t got anything to say, no.”
Asked if he knew why he had been suspended, he said “yes”, and whether he would explain this he said “well, I’m not going to tell you”.
“And not your constituents either?” the LDRS asked, to which he responded “no”.
The LDRS informed Cllr Rose that constituents and the press had experienced difficulties trying to contact him, to which he responded: “Have they? Well most constituents that I am aware of can get in touch with me, you’ve found me, so there’s no problem with that.”
The LDRS responded that approaches had been made by media on behalf of constituents, at which point Cllr Rose became agitated, saying: “How do you know anything about the BBC, why do you talk to them?”
The LDRS explained that it works in partnership with the BBC, at which point the councillor shooed the reporter away from the door, said “goodbye” and closed his front door.
After this visit, the LDRS contacted Cllr Barry Lewis, Conservative leader of Derbyshire County Council, to ask if he felt Cllr Rose should resign from the authority.
It also asked why Cllr Rose was appointed as a candidate when public comments on social media were readily available for the years before; and to respond to Cllr Rose’s alleged regret, embarrassment, remorse and apologetic nature.
Cllr Lewis said: “Cllr Rose is no longer a member of the Conservative Group as he serves out a long suspension period. As such we have no control over his actions or behaviours.
“The words expressed and what you’ve quoted in your email were from his own submission during the disciplinary process. “We’ve taken all the correct actions as a group in a timely fashion in referring the matter to the party to look at the social media posts he made before he was a Conservative member and candidate.
“Local associations select candidates for elections so any questions about this process will need to be addressed by Amber Valley Conservative Association.
“As to the question of whether he should remain a councillor, this is clearly one for Cllr Rose to seriously reflect upon and address.”
Cllr Joan Dixon, leader of the Derbyshire Labour Group, said: “It is appalling. Even though his reputation precedes him, the Conservatives felt comfortable taking him into their fold, despite his background.
“As far as I know he hasn’t apologised for any of his statements, and the statements were well known and freely available in public online.
“It just seems acceptable in the Tory party to behave extremely badly and get away with it.
“The actions of politicians at the moment are awful. You have Andrea Jenkins (Conservative MP) gesticulating to members of the public, but it seems you can put your finger up to the public and get away with it.”
Cllr Ed Fordham, leader of the Liberal Democrat Group, said: “When someone is elected to a council they stand on a party ticket, or as an independent, and the campaign will flush out their views and standpoint.
“Indeed, where they are a party candidate they should have been through an approvals process.
“All we really know is that Cllr Philip Rose was challenged at council for his views on Twitter which aligned him with climate change deniers, and that he was subsequently ejected from the Conservative Group.
“That he sits as an independent does no harm to the council, but does raise issues about the Conservative Group.”
Cllr Rose was elected in May 2021, winning 3,185 votes, alongside fellow Conservative David Wilson with 2,791 votes and unseating two Labour county councillors Paul Smith (then group leader) with 2,237 votes, and Steve Marshall-Clarke on 2,136.
This financial year, Cllr Rose will be paid a total allowance as a county councillor of £11,414, of which he has so far been paid £2,847.
He has claimed £29.70 in travel expenses in the current financial year.
He runs an insulation sales business called Philip Rose Consulting Ltd, registered to an address in Willoughby On The Wolds, Loughborough.
As far as I know he hasn’t apologised for any of his statements.
Labour group leader Cllr Joan Dixon