The end of another successful #ToryCanvass day. @SRConservatives have been out in force to support our excellent @ChorleyTories candidates. https://t.co/lwy0vq6LPc
A Tory councillor who shared a tweet comparing Momentum members to Nazis was hauled over the coals by opposition members at a council meeting, but received the backing of the council leader — who is also his mother.
Michael Green, a Lancashire county councillor and also a member of South Ribble borough council, retweeted the post, which showed a picture of a Nazi gathering in the 1930s, under the words "#Lab18 is starting tomorrow and an early Momentum fringe meeting is underway in the hall."
At a South Ribble council meeting on Wednesday, a printout of the tweet was shared by opposition members. Sources told BuzzFeed News that Green was admonished for the tweet by several members in the heated meeting — but council leader Mary Green refused to condemn him.
Instead she jumped to her son's defence, sources told BuzzFeed News, suggesting that some Labour members — including the party's leader — were indeed Nazis.
At the same meeting, before the issue of the offensive tweet was raised, Michael Green was appointed South Ribble's communications champion, sources told BuzzFeed News.
In 2012 he was criticised for another tweet, after he posted: "Gays and lesbians can do what they wish behind closed doors, but I disagree with Deputy PM over flying gay pride flag," in response to Nick Clegg raising the flag over Whitehall.
Liberal Democrat and Labour members have united in their condemnation of both councillors, calling for their resignations.
South Ribble Labour group leader Paul Foster said that as a former staff sergeant in the Royal Engineers, he found both councillors' actions "highly offensive" and said the calls for them to resign were not just a case of "political ping-pong".
"I served in the army for 15 years," he told BuzzFeed News. "I fought for my country in two wars while Councillor Green was counting his Top Trumps cards. I served in Kosovo and the first Gulf War, and I've been in Afghanistan, and I find it highly, highly offensive. I've seen firsthand what ethnic cleansing does in Kosovo."
He added: "Michael Green's tweet was highly offensive and he found it funny at the meeting, which is bad enough, but for his mother to then completely refuse to condemn it — and then to make matters worse by the comment she made — there's no place for them in local politics. It's gutter politics at the worst."
Liberal Democrat councillor David Howarth has written to Mary Green demanding her resignation. In the letter, shared with BuzzFeed News, he referred to Wednesday's meeting, saying: "You were quite frankly an utter embarrassment to this once-proud borough."
Howarth, whose mother-in-law arrived in the UK from a German labour camp, told BuzzFeed News: "I just found it astonishing that both councillors can behave in this way. It's not becoming of a councillor, it's not what the public would expect, it's not becoming of a council leader.
"It's not political jousting and tit-for-tat point scoring — it's just appalling behaviour. To accuse people of being Nazis given everything they carried out is beyond the acceptable mark, basically."
It's getting busier in Bamber Bridge for the Raising of the Coffin event. @Rovers @southribblebc
Howarth said that the matter had been referred to standards committees at both the borough and county council.
In addition to being a South Ribble councillor, Michael Green is also cabinet member for economic development, environment, and planning on Lancashire county council. A spokesperson for Lancashire county council said: "We have received a complaint and we're currently looking into it."
A spokesperson for South Ribble council said that an investigation was underway, but was unable to specify whether this related to one councillor or both.
Neither councillor responded to repeated requests for comment from BuzzFeed News, but Mary Green told the Lancashire Evening Post: "They’re [Labour and the Lib Dems] putting a slant on this, and that slant is not the truth. It’s clearly been orchestrated before the meeting.
"I’m not prepared to say any more at this time, but it is a matter that we will be looking at deeply through the council’s administration."