Kirklees Council has issued an update following the “suspension” of a Reform UK councillor after posts calling for the hanging of former Commons Speaker, John Bercow, on social media emerged.
On 13 August, an advocacy group against racism and fascism, ‘Hope Not Hate’, uncovered an X account containing racist, violent and homophobic content.
The alleged historical posts were made on an X account under the name David Rowan. They were all shared or written under the handle, @davidro63287194, which was understood to be Rowan’s personal account, and were posted before his tenure as a councillor began.
Among the posts made to the account, one written in 2019 read “Hang the Dwarf” in relation to John Bercow.
Meanwhile, another post from the same year appeared to read “As a parent not at school.. I don’t beleive gays should have kids full stop..”
In an updated statement, Kirklees Council has assured that it has a “formal process” in place for complaints.
A spokesperson for Kirklees Council said: “The council has an established Code of Conduct and formal process for considering complaints about the conduct of elected members whilst in office.
“Any allegations relating to potential breaches of the Code are considered through that process.”
They also confirmed that a previous statement relating to the suspension of Cllr Rowan “still stands” but that Cllr Rowan remains a Kirklees councillor.
At the time of reporting, a Reform UK spokesman told the BBC: “Cllr Rowan has been suspended from Reform UK pending investigation.” Reform UK, Cllr David Rowan and the Leader of Kirklees Council, Sarah Wood, were contacted by the Local Democracy Service for further comment.
