25 Tories suspended in ‘Islamophobia’ row
A TORY councillor has been suspended along with 24 other party members amid claims they posted Islamophobic and racist material on social media.
Alastair Redman, from Port Charlotte, Islay, is among 15 current and ten former Tory councillors accused of posting, sharing, or endorsing offensive content on Facebook or Twitter.
The party suspended the group after a dossier obtained by the Guardian was handed to the Conservative party.
It reportedly included calls for mosques to be banned and claims the faith wants to ‘turn the world Muslim’. But yesterday Argyll and Bute councillor Mr Redman said the allegations against him were untrue and vowed to work with the party to clear his name.
The 32-year-old said: ‘I will work with the party as it’s important that these things are looked into but, as for what I wrote, I haven’t been told by the party what it was, just that it was a social media post.
‘I do not have prejudiced views and I judge people as individuals. I have signed up Muslim constituents of mine to the Conservative party and encouraged them to join and have campaigned alongside people of all faiths and backgrounds. I have people who leaflet for me who are from different races and different backgrounds.’
He added: ‘I am 100 per cent certain I will be exonerated on this. I don’t give it any serious consideration because I know it isn’t true. The suspension is temporary, I am confident that I will be in the party once more and, in the meantime, I will keep doing my job.’ Claiming there is a political motive behind the allegations as a General Election campaign is under way, Mr Redman said: ‘I have been taken aback by the amount of constituents who have contacted me offering support.’
A Scottish Conservative spokesman said: ‘Alastair Redman has been suspended from the party with immediate effect pending an investigation.’
An Argyll and Bute Council spokesman said: ‘This is a political matter arising from a complaint made to the Conservative party and, as such, the council has no comment to make.’