They are a forgiving lot in the Conservative Party under Kemi BadEnoch.
Rape-shamer: Tory councillor Shaun Slator
The Tories have not only taken a “scumbag rape apologist” back into the party fold, they’ve even restored him to a senior position in the Bromley and Biggin Hill constituency of newbie MP Peter Fortune.
Although, perhaps a little oddly, after questions were asked about Shaun Slator’s current role, someone has erased all mention of him from Fortune’s social media profile… Have they got something to hide?
As previously reported by Inside Croydon, in 2023, Bromley councillor Shaun Slator had been deemed so toxic that he had his Conservative Party membership suspended following “despicable” and “dangerous and stupid” remarks about a rape victim.
Slator had posted comments on Twitter 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 the rape in Plumstead, the Conservative councillor aired his opinion: “More likely that it’s a punter that didn’t pay.”
As well as an elected councillor, at the time Slator was the chair of the Bromley and Chislehurst Conservative Association, where the MP then was long-serving Sir Bob Neill.
After condemnation from opposition councillors on Bromley Council, and from Jess Phillips, Labour’s parliamentary spokesperson on domestic violence, Slator later deleted the post and deactivated his social media account.
He also made a sorry-not-sorry apology before spending the next year sulking on the back benches at Bromley council meetings, while still drawing his councillor allowance as an “independent”.
Yet 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 right-wing Tory MP for Thurrock.
When Doyle-Price lost her seat at the General Election last July, Slator lost his job.
Although there were around 1,000 tax-funded parliamentary assistant jobs up for grabs after Labour’s landslide election victory, it does not seem as if Slator was able to get himself re-employed with any of the 121 Tory MPs. Even the five Reform MPs wouldn’t have him.
Now you see it: Tory MP Peter Fortune’s online bio, with Shaun Slator reference…
According to his own online profiles, outside Bromley Council, where he pockets nearly £15,000 a year in basic and special responsibility allowances (council leader Colin Smith has bumped up Slator’s allowances by making him vice-chairman of the executive, resources and contracts committee), Slator’s only work at present is as a director of his own property investment and management firm.
A bit like on the side of Del Boy’s van, Slator says his company operates “in London and Blackpool”. “Currently accepting new clients,” says Slator’s profile, “investors and JV partners. Get in touch for a chat about how we can make you money.” Which is nice.
Slator withholds information about his employment status on what is supposed to be his public register of interest with Bromley Council, being allowed to use Section 32 (2) of the Localism Act 2011. It is almost as if he thinks he has got something to hide…
And now, as if nothing had ever happened, the Bromley and Biggin Hill Conservative Association has gone ahead and appointed Slator as its chairman once again. The constituency Conservative Association website also lists him as their secretary.
Now you don’t: why might the MP have decided to remove mention of Shaun Slator from his profile?
Peter Fortune, the former local councillor and London Assembly Member, was elected as the area’s MP in July, replacing Sir Bob Neill, who had retired. Fortune managed to turn a 14,000 majority into a 302-vote majority (although we dare say, after six months under Prime Minister Starmer, thousands of Bromley residents may be ruing their vote for Labour…).
Once installed at Westminster as one of the 121 Tory MPs, Fortune started displaying on his social media profiles the name of Shaun Slator, apparently as the person to contact at Bromley’s Conservative Party offices in the constituency.
“I am disappointed but not surprised to see that Peter Fortune MP has put the name of the scumbag rape apologist Shaun Slator on his bio,” a Conservative Party member wrote to Inside Croydon.
When Fortune was approached for comment, a tax-funded MP’s assistant replied: “Peter does not employ Shaun Slator, nor is Mr Slator a point of contact for him. He is chairman of the Bromley and Biggin Hill Conservative Association and is included on imprints required by the Electoral Commission for campaign material.”
Yet soon after the journalistic enquiries, reference to Shaun Slator was erased from Fortune’s profile. It’s as if Peter Fortune’s got something to hide…
The Slator saga may not be entirely over, either, as his notoriety has now extended to the neighbouring borough of Greenwich, where according to Slator himself last year, he received a court summons for non-payment of Council Tax on a property there.
Under the law, councillors are forbidden from taking part in the annual setting of Council Tax in a borough if they themselves are not fully paid up in the local taxation. Matters are a little less clear, however, over whether Slator might be allowed to set Council Tax in Bromley, having been in default of Council Tax in Greenwich.
Perhaps Bromley’s Tory council leader can clarify..?
Read more: ‘Rape shaming’ councillor Slator welcomed back by Tories
Read more: The New Yorker’s take on the damage of 14 years of Tory rule
FREE ADS: Paid-up subscribers to Inside Croydon qualify for a free ad for their business, residents’ association or community group, just one of the benefits of being part of our online community. For more information about being an iC subscriber, click here for our Patreon page
PAID ADS: To advertise your services or products to our near 10,000 weekday visitors to the site, which is featured on Google News Showcase and followed by 16,000 on Twitter/X, email us inside.croydon@btinternet.com for our unbeatable ad rates
- If you have a news story about life in or around Croydon, or want to publicise your residents’ association or business, or if you have a local event to promote, please email us with full details at inside.croydon@btinternet.com
As featured on Google News Showcase
- Our comments section on every report provides all readers with an immediate “right of reply” on all our content. Our comments policy can be read by clicking here
Inside Croydon is a member of the Independent Community News Network
plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose
Slator? Slater, more like it. As in woodlouse.
As well as withholding his employment from his council Register of Interests, there’s the small matter of his three businesses.
One is Orpington Homes Ltd. That’s for “buying and selling of own real estate”. It narrowly avoided being struck off by Companies House for filing accounts late (net assets a measly £158).
Second is his Shed Politics Ltd business of other publishing activities (net assets a paltry £8). He’s behind in filing a confirmation statement for that one.
Finally, there’s Slator Management which involves “other letting and operating of own or leased real estate”. Shaun has done a bit better with this one, managing to make a profit of over £7k last time the books were submitted.
Slater’s omissions of the above from his Bromley Council record presumably fall under the excuse of “details withheld under section 32 (2) of the Localism Act 2011.
This refers to information about a councillor’s personal interests that is not included in the public register of interests because disclosing it could potentially lead to violence or intimidation; essentially, it allows for sensitive personal details to be kept confidential for safety reasons.
The decision to withhold details under this provision of the Act must be made by the councillor in consultation with the local authority’s Monitoring Officer.
Why such agreement would be sought and given is a mystery, when the business interests can be found by searching for Shaun Slator on the government’s Companies House web portal. “Slator Management” even features on Slater’s Linkedin profile