A Conservative councillor who said an alleged rape victim was probably a prostitute has been thrown out of the party.
Shaun Slator, who represents St Mary Cray ward on Bromley Council, was suspended from the party in January after he replied to a tweet from a local newspaper on New Year’s Eve reporting the alleged incident in Villas Road.
He wrote: “More likely that it’s a punter that didn’t pay.”
Bromley Council looked into the matter after receiving 18 complaints, but decided not to punish Slator as he was not acting in his capacity as a councillor at the time.
Last month Bromley’s Conservative leader, Colin Smith, said he would allow Slator back into his party group after he had undergone training about interacting online but he now sits as an independent after the national party expelled him.
A Conservative Party spokesperson told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “The Conservative Party has an established code of conduct and formal processes where complaints can be made in confidence. This process is rightly confidential. Following the conclusion of this process, Cllr Slator has been expelled.”
He told a council meeting last month he had deleted his Twitter account.
He said: “I’m not ashamed to admit that I am fallible, and I have made a mistake. I now understand that with the privilege afforded to me as a councillor to better serve my community, comes a responsibility to reflect more deeply on what I say and post online.”
