Newly
elected Redditch councillor Dave Small referred to gay people as perverts and
African immigrants as scroungers
 |
| A Ukip spokesman said the party’s national executive committee would look into the posts and decide what action to take. Photograph: Suzanne Plunkett/Reuters |
Nigel Farage is dealing with fresh allegations of racism and homophobia in his party
only days after the local and European elections as Ukip was forced to launch
an investigation into comments made by one of its newly elected councillors.
Dave Small,
who was elected to Redditch borough council on Friday, faces being kicked out
of the party for referring to gay people as "perverts" and African
immigrants as "scroungers".
In comments
posted on Facebook, he also attacked BBC broadcaster Clare Balding and singer
Elton John over their sexuality and referred to "our sworn enemies in the
Muslim world".
Stonewall's
acting chief executive, Ruth Hunt, condemned the comments, saying Ukip would be
"judged by the company they keep".
She said:
"These reprehensible views have no place in modern Britain. We hope the
party leadership reviews these comments as a matter of urgency."
A Ukip
spokesman said the party's national executive committee would look into the
posts and decide what action to take. Similar offences in the past have seen
members kicked out of the party.
The
spokesman said: "All Ukip members and councillors are expected to uphold
the values of the party. Where there are allegations that that has not been the
case, there is an established disciplinary procedure, which is under the
auspices of the national executive committee. We will certainly look at this
case."
The
spokesman added that there were already "quite a few cases pending".
Small's
Ukip colleague Stuart Cross, who represents Redditch South on Worcester county
council, said Small was "not wanted" and should resign over the
comments. He tweeted: "If the new cllr has said that. Then he gets no
support from me. He should resign without hesitation as those views are
disgraceful."
In a post
on his Facebook account last June entitled Britain used to be for the British,
Small wrote: "Our once great country has become the dust bin for all the
world wide money grabbing scum."
He added:
"Why on earth is this useless Goverment pandering to Puffs? I refuse to
call them gays, as what has gay to do with Perverts like Elton John and Clair
Balding who get their jollies in such disgusting ways. to sum up, they should
not allowed to be married, they should go back to the closet."
In February
2013, he referred to gay people as "perverts" and expressed
opposition to "poofs and dykes" being allowed to marry. And he
predicted that "thousends mor scroungers" would soon arrive in the UK
from Mali as a result of a range of coalition government policies.
Small also
complained in a November 2012 post that he was not allowed to use the term
"Paki". And, in June that year, he wrote: "I visiting the city
of Birmingham recently and felt like a foreigner in the city of my birth, all
around me I could hear the sound of jabbering in an alien voice … we also have
the Pakistani' and the Somali's. Tell me Mr Cameron Why? the men wear their
Pyjamas."
His
comments are just the latest to cause problems for Farage. In February this
year, Ukip councillor David Silvester was kicked out of the party for saying
that gay marriage was to blame for the storms that lashed Britain last winter.
Farage
himself faced criticism after insisting that people would be justified in
worrying about Romanians moving in next door. And, in April, Ukip donor Demetri
Marchessini told Channel 4 News that a man could never rape his wife because
"once a woman accepts, she accepts".
Last week,
BBC News' Jasmine Lawrence was removed from the corporation's election coverage
after tweeting a derogatory comment about Ukip as the country was about to go
to the polls.
The party
made gains in the local elections, prompting Farage to claim that the
"Ukip fox is in the Westminster hen house". But the BBC's projected
national share figure showed Ukip got less than the 23% it had in council
elections last year. Moreover, the party does not control any local
authorities.
Anti-Ukip
campaigers Still Laughing at the UK Independence Party said Dave Small was
"another example in a long list of Ukip candidates who, having just been
elected as a councillor, reveals himself on Facebook as a racist and a
homophobe".
Small did
not respond to a request for comment.
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