A Labour campaigner could face expulsion from the party over a string of attacks on a political rival whom he suggested gave funding to the Scouts for sexual reasons and kept a “gimp” in a cellar.
West Derby Labour member Stephen Poulson aimed his comments at city Liberal group leader Cllr Steve Radford.
Cllr Radford represents the Tuebrook ward in the West Derby Parliamentary constituency held by Labour’s Stephen Twigg MP.
Cllr Radford – who became Liverpool’s first openly gay councillor – said he believed the online comments to be slurs about his sexuality.
Mr Poulson was forced to publish a retraction on his Tuebrook Uncovered blog and admit his comments about Scouts funding were untrue – after Cllr Radford got lawyers involved.
But his recent “gimp” comments have re-ignited the row and the ECHO has learned the Labour Party has been forced to intervene.
In his apology over the Scouts comments – in which he claimed Cllr Radford in his capacity as chair of the Tuebrook Hope Group had shown “sexual bias” – he said he accepted his comments were “unjustified and untrue”.
“The comment about the gimp in the cellar is clearly a sexual comment – there’s no other view you could take.”
He also retracted claims that Cllr Radford had “ripped off” St Johns church in Tuebrook over the hire of a church hall.
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But this month he posted a comment stating: “Was not on to the fact we had a fancy dress yesterday.
“Cllr Radford and his candidate (the gimp from the cellar) came dressed as tramps and ate all our butties like they had been living in the bus stop.”
Mr Poulson has been urged by Labour campaign organisers to stop leaving the comments about Cllr Radford.
Sources told the ECHO he could face disciplinary proceedings under the party’s rules if he refuses to stop. But Cllr Radford said he was not satisfied with the length of time it had taken for Labour to respond to his complaints.
Cllr Radford said: “This absolutely outrageous behaviour has been going on for two years and yet here he is going out handing out leaflets.
“What responsible political party would have someone like this doing that? They’ve had the chance to deal with it for two years.
“Had it been someone from UKIP saying these kinds of things, you would have had Labour up in arms over it.
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“It makes a mockery of Labour’s anti-homophobia position.”
The ECHO understands that Mr Poulson, who is followed on Twitter by 10 Labour politicians, including Mr Twigg, but who does not appear to have posted any abusive messages through that channel, has been told to “cease and desist” from making any more comments.
Cllr Radford said: “The comment about the gimp in the cellar is clearly a sexual comment – there’s no other view you could take.”
Cllr Radord added: “I don’t even have a cellar. I wish I could afford a house with a cellar.”
Mr Poulson told the ECHO the latest comments were provoked by a visit to a Feel The Love open day in Newsham Park by Cllr Radford and one of his candidates.
He said that Cllr Radford and his supporters had turned up to try to leaflet the “non-political event”, and that when he challenged them one of Cllr Radford’s entourage became threatening and abusive in front of him, his mother and young niece.
But Mr Poulson stressed: “Any posting I make on social media is my own personal opinion and in no way connected to the Labour Party.”
He added Cllr Radford had at times been derogatory towards him on social media sites.
A Liverpool Labour spokesman confirmed Mr Poulson had been spoken to about his comments, which in no way represented the views of the party.
He claimed that regional party bosses had been spoken to for advice about what action to take if Mr Poulson continued to make what the spokesman described as “derogatory, spiteful and frankly vile” comments.
The spokesman said Mr Poulson was not making any comment in an official Labour Party capacity and said the remarks were not part of any Labour political campaigning, adding: “Stephen Twigg has a long-established track record of clean campaigning and is about taking a positive approach to politics. It’s true we are concerned about the reports we have received and are trying to take steps to deal with it.
“We have a duty of care to each individual member but equally we have a long-standing and positive relationship with Steve Radford. He is an active local councillor in the constituency and it’s a relationship that has been built on respect. While we are enthusiastic to take the Labour message to Tuebrook, where Stephen Twigg is MP, it’s a positive message, not personally critical of Cllr Radford and his team and this is not the sort of campaigning that Stephen Twigg or the West Derby CLP are engaged in, or ever will be.”
The Urban Dictionary refers to a gimp as “a sex slave or submissive, usually male”.
The term “gimp” became widely known in the mid-1990s after one featured in a scene in the cult classic film, Pulp Fiction.
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