Another week, another Reform councillor whose dubious social media history has come back to haunt him.
This week it’s Peter Mason, cabinet member for strategic highways on Staffordshire Council, whose historic posting on, inevitably, X, seems to have gone under the radar of the party’s notoriously strict vetting procedures.
In one post in March 2024, Mason posted his review of a new piece of public art, writing: “What a surprise a statue of a fat arsed black woman”, while in another he voiced his displeasure with modern policing, posting: “Utter rubbish the police now are a bunch of politically indoctrinated British hating scum”, claiming they were “taking the knee to BLM, painting rainbows and dancing around like fairies”. In posts since deleted, he also wrote graphically about trans people.
After they reemerged this week, Mason apologised, saying, “these tweets were made in 2023 and early 2024 when I was not a member of any political party or elected as a councillor” – 2024, of course, being ancient history – and that it was “during a difficult time personally, affected by grief and redundancy”.
“I do hold traditional views but have never cared as to someone’s race, colour, religion or orientation,” he explained. “My strongest held belief of all is one of meritocracy and all being equal of opportunity. No one is better or more worthy than another.
“Having joined Reform and become a councillor I have found this has allowed me to recover from my negative frame of mind and find a way to a more positive and optimistic outlook.” Best of luck with that!
