UKIP investigate candidate over ‘homophobic’ tweet
By Josh Haggis
The UK Independence Party (UKIP) has launched an investigation into a prospective councillor after he reportedly made intolerant comments on social media.
Robert Bilcliff, who is standing to be a councillor in Tamworth, Staffordshire in May, posted an apparently homophobic tweet on March 29, the day same-sex marriage became legal in the UK. See below.
The prospective councillor also reportedly made racist comments against Muslims on Facebook in July 2012.
Commenting on the reports, Bilcliff told the press yesterday (April 26): “I am not racist and never have been. I have many friends of different nationalities but I enjoy a joke every now and again.”
A spokesman for UKIP said that Bilcliff may now face disciplinary action, the Daily Mail reports.
In January, UKIP suspended David Silvester, a councillor who blamed the recent floods blighting Britain on the legalisation of equal marriage.