David Cameron is facing calls from Labour to discipline a local council candidate after they dressed as Oscar Pistorius for a costume party. Gregg Peers – who is standing for the Conservatives in a Cumbria County Council by-election – posted photos of himself in the fancy dress on his Facebook page.
Labour’s Liz Kendall has said the Prime Minister must ‘show he takes violence against women seriously by taking immediate action against his candidate’. The MP for Leicester West adds that ‘the Conservatives must explain why they promoted him to senior positions in their party’.
But isn’t it time for the Labour party to also show that they take violence against women seriously? Mr S only asks as the Labour PPC for Newton Abbot Roy Freer has previously joked about the death of Pistorius’s girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. Posting on his own Facebook page, Freer wrote: ‘Roses are red. Violets are glorious. Don’t ever sneak up on Oscar Pistorius’.
‘Jokes like this are unacceptable and in poor taste, or as Liz Kendall says, “stomach churning”,’ a Tory source says. ‘Hopefully Kendall has enough outrage leftover to be able to take swift action against this Labour Parliamentary candidate.’
‘Jokes like this are unacceptable and in poor taste, or as Liz Kendall says, “stomach churning”,’ a Tory source says. ‘Hopefully Kendall has enough outrage leftover to be able to take swift action against this Labour Parliamentary candidate.’
A Labour spokesperson said: ‘This was an offensive joke made before he was a candidate. Roy Freer has apologised and been reminded of his responsibilities as a candidate.’
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