Campaigner may face the axe from Labour party over ‘gimp in basement’ accusations
A Labour party member and campaigner could be thrown out of his party after suggesting a Liberal Party rival kept a “gimp” in his cellar.
West Derby Labour member Stephen Poulson was accused of a string of attacks on Liberal group leader Councillor Steve Radford, which included suggesting that he had a “sexual bias” in his position as chair of the Tuebrook Hope Group, a Scouts group.
Radford, Liverpool’s first openly gay councillor said he believed the comments made online by Poulson, were due to his sexuality.
Poulson published a retraction on his blog, and said his comment about the Scouts funding were “unjustified and untrue”, but only when Councillor Radford sought legal advice.
This week Poulson wrote: “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.”
The latest comments reignited the argument, and caused the Labour party to get involved, urging him to stop posting about the councillor.
The Liverpool Echo reports that the Labour campaigner could face disciplinary proceedings if he refuses to follow instructions.
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.
“It makes a mockery of Labour’s anti-homophobia position.”
But Mr Poulson claimed the post was in response to Councillor Radford attempting to flyer a “non political event”, and wrote: “Any posting I make on social media is my own personal opinion and in no way connected to the Labour Party.”
