Labour council hopeful suspended over tweet
A WELSH Labour council candidate has been suspended after his account tweeted an offensive political comment in response to the death from cancer of a Sky TV presenter’s wife.
Graham Colk is standing in a Rhondda Cynon Taf council by-election in the Llantwit Fardre ward.
Polling will take place on May 6, the same day as the Senedd election.
In 2018 Jo Brazier, the wife of Sky TV presenter Colin Brazier, died of breast cancer.
Two months after her death she was invited by her local NHS Trust for breast screening.
Mr Brazier tweeted at the time: “I know the NHS is the closest thing we have to a state religion etc, but invitations to breast screening fall on deaf ears to those who’ve already died of breast cancer.”
Mr Colk’s Twitter account responded: “Voting Conservative you reap what you sow.”
The Welsh Conservatives provided us with screenshots of further Twitter activity from Mr Colk’s account.
In 2013, referring to a former captain of Manchester United and a TV presenter with whom he went on to do TV football punditry, Mr Colk’s account tweeted: “Ebens bet that Roy Keane would like to punch Adrian Chiles. I know I would.”
In 2018 Mr Colk’s account commented on the trial of Darren Osborne, a resident of Cardiff who drove a van into a crowd outside the Finsbury Park mosque in London, killing one man.
Osborne claimed he had met a man called Dave and another called Terry Jones in a pub at Treforest, near Pontypridd, and that they had spoken about killing then Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn or London Mayor Sadiq Khan.
Mr Colk’s account tweeted: “We know this guy is lying as there are no Daves who drink in pubs in Treforest.
“Unless he means English Dave, but he has been off the ale since his kidney transplant. Terry Jones only drinks in Ponty. Everyone knows that.
“There are hundreds of Dais, mind.” Also, around Easter 2018, Mr Colk’s account retweeted a mocked-up picture of Tory politician Amber Rudd, crucified on a cross.
She had just resigned as Home Secretary after misleading MPs about immigration targets.
At her feet were fellow politicians Sajid Javid and Theresa May, the first with a bubble saying: “Can I have her job?” and the second saying: “Thanks for sacrificing yourself for my sins.”
Mr Colk’s account also tweeted a photograph of Mrs May against a Union Flag with the Auschwitz caption “Arbeit macht frei”.
Mr Colk’s account also commented on a petition on change.org backing the then Commons Speaker John Bercow for saying he would be strongly opposed to US President Donald Trump addressing the Houses of Parliament during his proposed visit to the UK.
Mr Bercow had said that “opposition to racism and sexism” were “hugely important considerations”.
He was criticised for doing this by some MPs.
Mr Colk’s account tweeted: “He [Mr Bercow] has done it and got away with it. Sometimes fortune favours the brave. I will be back to thinking he is a pompous tw*t next week.”
A spokesman for the Welsh Conservatives said: “Welsh Labour need to consider whether they should be backing a candidate who holds, and publishes, such offensive views.
“They should take action and censure him – not walk the streets campaigning with him.”
Pontypridd MS Mick Antoniw, who has been photographed campaigning with Mr Colk, said he knew nothing about his Twitter history.
A Welsh Labour spokesman said: “These comments do not represent Labour values or our party.
“We do not comment on individual cases. However, we can confirm the member has been administratively suspended pending investigation.”
Mr Colk, who is an official of the Communication Workers Union, did not respond to our request for comment.