Kent Labour drops member over 'concerning' remarks

A Labour member in Kent has been dropped by the party over making “concerning” remarks and allegedly placing bets on election results. Barry Lewis, who has represented Margate as a councillor since 2017, faced three allegations.

Last week he was formally taken off the candidates’ list for the Kent County Council election next May after an earlier appeal was dismissed. Cllr Lewis, who does not deny the claims but disputes the context, may stand as an independent at the poll.

According to paperwork, Cllr Lewis is said to have made a remark to a party colleague following a Thanet LGBTQ+ event, to which he had contributed funds from his member’s grant. He was claimed to have said on November 27 2023: “Now, I’ve secured the gay vote.”

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Last June, another senior member of the Labour team said Cllr Lewis was “excited” about having a Nigerian person on board. He is said to have claimed he “had 200 Nigerians in his pocket”. On another occasion, in the run-up to the general election, he is alleged to have told an organiser he used third persons to place bets on elections.

In an email confirming his de-selection, a party official wrote the findings “were highly concerning and demonstrate poor political judgement”. It added: “Elected representatives of the party should be supportive of the party’s policies and promote the party positively at all times.

“The panel felt that the appeal did not satisfactorily demonstrate that the original assessment team acted irrationally.” Cllr Lewis said the two remarks were made jovially in a social setting.

He added: “I think they have been taken out of context. It took more than a year to raise one of the remarks, but nothing was said at the time. They couldn’t find anything substantial in my work to criticise so they came up with these ridiculous distortions of what I meant. So it’s a witch hunt.

“There was nothing wrong in what I said.” He said he did not bet on the July 4 general election but admitted he had asked third parties “a number of times over a number of years, which is not illegal”.

The Labour Party declined to comment.