A senior Conservative on Kirklees Council who was suspended by his party over a Twitter race row has been reinstated.
Bernard McGuin says he is looking forward to returning to local politics after the two-month suspension which followed complaints that tweets he had made in 2014 prior to his election were racist.
The council’s Conservative Group leader, Clr David Hall, said an internal party investigation had decided Clr McGuin had not breached any rules or intended to give offence and therefore his suspension was rescinded.
He was reinstated to the Conservative Group on Kirklees Council on Monday morning (July 9).
Clr Hall said: “He has accepted that we must be careful when using social media not to write anything which may unintentionally cause offence and I think that is good advice to everyone.”
Clr McGuin, 60, who was elected in 2016 to represent the Almondbury ward, was targeted by the group Far Right Watch for a now-deleted tweet sent in September 2014.
In it he wrote, “Oh yes, let’s allow a bunch of fascist Muslim murdering bastards to take over instead, terrific.”
It led to criticism from Itrat Ali, who stood as the Conservative candidate in the Huddersfield constituency in the 2015 general election.
She said: “Totally disgusted if this is true. As a member of Dewsbury Conservatives, urge Huddersfield members to take appropriate action. Racism is not acceptable in any form or towards any individual.”
In confirming his reinstatement Clr McGuin said his words had been taken out of context.
And he revealed he had defended and survived a motion to expel him from the party.
“I have agreed to keep off certain subjects, particularly international politics,” he said.
“I am just an elected councillor. I am not going to affect our international politics. I can have an impact in the area I represent.
“People are more interested in bins, street lighting and schools. I am going to concentrate on that.”
Referring to his tweets he said one related directly to ISIS but if taken out of context it could be perceived that he was anti-Muslim, a charge he rejected.
Another tweet, referring to a woman on a beach as “No1 bitch” was written as a joke.
“If someone deletes their comment then you are left hanging and your tweet can be taken out of context,” he said.
“It’s taught me a lesson. I regret some of the language used and the way I expressed it. I have got to be really careful because some of it could be misinterpreted.
“I probably didn’t think that what I said was wrong but I do agree that if taken out of context then they were racist and sexist.
“A thing like this is really upsetting. I know I’m not a racist. If people thought I was that would be devastating for me.
“I was talking about ISIS. At the time people were arguing for us not to get involved in Syria. I was saying that we have to because we have to defend lives. People were being killed.
“There was no feud between me and Itrat Ali. She was asked to quote on what Far Right Watch had said. But I didn’t say that at all. Far Right Watch twisted it.
“She later wrote to me and said she did not believe I was a racist.
“We have not fallen out. I was the person who pushed her for the candidacy. She is still my friend.”
Clr McGuin’s term of office runs until 2020. He said he hoped not to be de-selected when it comes to re-election.
Chairman of Huddersfield Conservative Association Bill Armer confirmed Clr McGuin’s suspension had been rescinded.
“He has been totally reinstated as a member and de facto deputy political chairman.”
