A SALTFORD election candidate has insisted he is not behind online posts targeting the local council, politicians and minorities – although he said he finds some of the posts funny.
Chris Warren (pictured) is hoping to be elected the new independent councillor for Saltford on Bath and North East Somerset Council in a byelection on January 16.
He has insisted he is not behind an account on X (formerly Twitter) which used graphic language to insult the council and its staff.
The account has also tweeted several selfies of Mr Warren and made references to Saltford and being chair of the local parish council. Mr Warren chaired Saltford Parish Council for seven years.
In response to a tweet from another account asking what “death threats” women use, the account tweeted a four-second video of Mr Warren putting on mock-feminine voice.
But Mr Warren insisted it was not his X account and said he had not even seen it, suggesting the images of him had been taken from Facebook.
He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “People can get images of people, can’t they?
“It ain’t me. So if someone’s putting stuff out there, I didn’t do it. I’ve been trolled.”
The account – under the name ‘The Ghost of Dominic Grieve’ – has tweeted frequently since 2019. It has called Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch a “dopey looking mare” and has also insulted Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner and former Green MP Caroline Lucas.
Mr Warren laughed as he was read these tweets by the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
Asked if the tweets reflected his views, Mr Warren said: “No.”
He then added: “I find them quite funny. I do find some of them quite humorous.”
In response to a video of a woman saying: “We need less George Floyds and Jordan Neeleys in this world,” the account responded with two thumbs-up emojis and the words: “Absolutely amazing.”
A tweet about Mohammed Iidow, who raped and killed an NHS worker, described him as “sub saharan scum.”
The X account replied “yep” to a tweet asking: “Do you consider yourself anti-Islam?” and retweeted a tweet about standing with Tommy Robinson.
The account tweeted about two letters it claimed to have sent to the RNLI accusing the charity of being a taxi service for economic migrants, criminals and “Islamic paedophiles.”
Tweets making reference to repeated visits to Hungary have praised Viktor Orban. In response to a tweet from another account about “garbage migrants,” the account said: “Now entering my fourth week here in Hungary. Absolutely no diversity whatsoever. Haven’t seen one. Well done Viktor.”
Mr Warren previously stood as an independent to be one of Saltford’s two councillors at the 2023 Bath and North East Somerset Council elections. He was beaten by just 33 votes by Liberal Democrat Alison Streatfeild-James, the councillor whose resignation triggered the byelection. Duncan Hounsell (also Liberal Democrat) remains Saltford’s other councillor.
Mr Warren has been a major voice in the campaign to bring back Saltford Station.
He said: “I’ve been campaigning for the station for a long time and been badly let down by local politicians.”
He also warned that Saltford and the district’s outlying villages had become “a dumping ground for development” and said he wanted to challenge the plans for bus lanes on the A4.
He said: “These bus lanes are going to be a nightmare. It will be a nightmare for Saltford and the surrounding areas. It will sort of emanate out and we will have gridlock. That’s the issues I’m standing against.”
Mr Warren said he did not think people would “give a monkey’s either way” about the X account.
He said: “If people don’t want to vote for me, they don’t want to vote for me if they think it’s associated with me. If they do they do, if they don’t they don’t.”
Also standing in the byelection are:
Andrew David Busby (Conservative)
Daniel Patrick Condick (Reform UK)
Jane Emma Giddins (Labour)
Hossein Pirooz (Liberal Democrat)
Luanne Thornton (Green)
Saltford ward includes Burnett, Bath Spa University’s Newton Park campus, Chewton Keynsham, Compton Dando, Corston, Newton St Loe and Queen Charlton.
John Wimperis, Local Democracy Reporting Service
Pictured, tweets from the X account.
