No further action against councillor who compared gay marriage with bestiality

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No disciplinary action is to be taken against a Conservative party local councillor who compared the government’s proposals to legalise gay marriage with legalised bestiality.

Wycombe district councillor James Malliff had tweeted last year: “There is no doubt the PM is wrong on this issue. We may as well legalise marriage with animals, crude I concede but no apology.”

Mr Malliff later deleted the tweet and did apologise.

He said last year: “I was not intending to be offensive. It was much more a comment to try to establish where we draw the line on these things.

“My comment (on Twitter) was there is no doubt the PM has got this wrong and you may as well legalise marriage with animals.

“It sounds terrible now but it was not meant to be anti-gay. I am not anti-gay and I respect people’s views on this issue.”

He was suspended and admonished by the party in late 2011 before being allowed to return.

The Wycombe District Council complaints committee ruled last year that no disciplinary action should be taken against Mr Malliff.

An appeal against that decision was launched but has been unsuccessful today.

The Bucks Free Press reports a notice from District Solicitor and Monitoring Officer D. R. Ruddock saying: “Having read fully the report prepared by the Investigating Officer in respect of allegations made against Councillor James Malliff, the Council’s Local Standards Hearings Panel at its meeting on 12 June 2012 resolved to accept the Investigating Officer’s finding that Councillor Malliff had not failed to comply with the Council’s Code of Conduct when publishing or causing to be published a comment on his micro-blogging site on 6 October 2011, because he was not acting in an official capacity at the time.”

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