Our Beckenham correspondent, PETTA WOOD, reports
Just in case there were any lingering doubts, the Conservative Party in Bromley at election time has doubled down on its reputation as The Nasty Party by giving an important position to a councillor who 18 months ago was kicked out for his “despicable” and “dangerous and stupid” remarks about a rape victim.
Knocking people up: rape-shamer Shaun Slator (back, centre) canvassing with Tory colleagues including ex-MP Sir Bob Neill (right) and Peter Fortune (front)
According to Bromley Council’s official election records, Shaun Slator is working as the Conservative election agent for Peter Fortune in Bromley and Biggin Hill.
Last year, Slator was deemed so toxic that he had his party membership suspended.
Slator posted comments on Twitter in early 2023 that suggested that the victim of a rape in a park was likely a sex worker. Underneath a link to an online news story reporting a rape in Plumstead, he wrote: “More likely that it’s a punter that didn’t pay.”
He later deleted the post and deactivated his social media account.
Slator was the chair of the Bromley and Chislehurst Conservative Association at the time, where the MP was long-serving Sir Bob Neill.
After condemnation from opposition parties on Bromley Council, and Jess Phillips, Labour’s parliamentary spokesperson on domestic violence, Slator made a sorry-not-sorry apology before spending the next year sulking on the back benches, still drawing his councillor allowance as an “independent”.
And all that time Slator was allowed to carry on in his publicly-funded job at Westminster, as a parliamentary assistant to Jackie Doyle-Price, the Tory MP for Thurrock.
Official record: how the office of the deputy returning officer at Bromley Council has detailed the election agents for Bromley and Biggin Hill
Slator is now managing the election campaign for Fortune, the area’s London Assembly member, who has been given the task of clinging on to what mostly used to be the seat held by Sir Bob.
In the past fortnight, Slator has been included in several selfies, out and about campaigning with Fortune and Sir Bob… though perhaps wary of the backlash that his involvement in the campaign might bring, Fortune’s social media has tried to avoid mentioning his election agent by name.
Election agents are not always paid, though it is sometimes a professional position, perhaps on a short-term contract. Slator may be “between jobs” at the moment, following the dissolution of Parliament at the end of May when MPs stand down and close or mothball their Westminster offices (depending on their prospects for re-election).
So a spell as election agent might be seen as tiding him over for a while…
Given the disaster that the Tories have been for Thurrock, as well as the rest of the country, the chances are that Doyle-Price might lose her seat on July 4, leaving Slator facing a bit of a scramble if he is seeking another Westminster position after July 8.
Thing is: who would want him?
The election campaign is not going very well for the Tories in the neighbouring Beckenham and Penge constituency, either, where their candidate, former opera singer Hannah Gray, another Bromley councillor, has been a bit off-key after being forced to pulp thousands of election leaflets, on orders from the Met Police, as first reported by Inside Croydon.
The Once-A-Week Standard has since followed up another of iC’s news reports.
Scotland Yard took exception to Gray using a photograph on her leaflet of the Bromley police borough commander, making it look very much like she had an endorsement from the Met Police.
“The Metropolitan Police are aware of a leaflet being circulated by a candidate which included a picture of a MPS officer. The Metropolitan Police has requested the candidate to withdraw the leaflet from circulation,” a Scotland Yard spokesperson said.
Read more: ‘Rape shaming’ councillor Slator welcomed back by Tories
Read more: Voters being taken for granted as ‘battleground’ moves south
Read more: Croydon West election just got interesting with Labour split
Read more: The New Yorker’s take on the damage of 14 years of Tory rule
For more information on where to vote on July 4 and for the full list of who is standing for election in your constituency, use our widget here:
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