Yorkshire Tory councillor under fire over posts praising Andrew Tate

Labour are calling on the Tories in West Yorkshire to withdraw support for a senior councillor after his posts praising the controversial influencer Andrew Tate emerged on social media.

Conservative party officials are considering whether to launch a formal investigation into Mark Thompson, who is standing for re-election this week in the Kirklees ward of Birstall and Birkenshaw, over posts Labour say are “highly offensive” and misogynistic.

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On his personal Facebook account Cllr Thompson, a member of the Conservative shadow cabinet on Labour-run Kirklees Council, shares a video by Andrew Tate with the message “for all young men out there”. In another he says Tate and his brother Tristan are being held in prison “because they teach young men to be masculine”.

The Tate brothers are in detention in Romania, charged with rape, human trafficking and forming an organised crime group to sexually exploit women. They are awaiting extradition to the UK and deny all the charges.

In other posts, seen by The Northern Agenda politics newsletter, the councillor described the climate crisis as “bull” and posted a picture of a certificate describing the Covid vaccination scheme as “the greatest psychological fear campaign in human history”.

Andrew Tate, who has amassed 9.1 million followers on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, was previously banned from various prominent social media platforms for expressing misogynistic views and for hate speech.

Kirklees Council's Labour leader Cathy Scott says she has reported the comments to the authority's Electoral Services department after being sent copies by a Birstall mother-of-two who described the comments as “disturbing”. The council confirmed a complaint had been received.

And she has written to the leader of the council's Conservative group David Hall, saying the party should withdraw its support for Cllr Thompson as a candidate in the local elections on May 2.

In her letter she says, “Can I ask if you or your party share Mr Thompson's views on Andrew Tate, particularly given the charged nature of his legal situation? The people of Batley and Spen deserve better and are tired of toxic political debates dragging the area down.

"It's deeply troubling to see a current councillor engaging with and sharing content that promotes hate. Can you confirm whether you will be withdrawing support from Mr Thompson as the Conservative candidate for Birstall and Birkenshaw?"

Cllr Hall says his colleague is not currently under investigation but the posts have been referred to Conservative party officials who will advise whether they warrant further action.

He told The Northern Agenda: “As you would expect, I take any complaint seriously, and am awaiting further guidance on the matter.

“In the meantime Cllr Thompson and other Conservative colleagues will continue to campaign on matters which concern residents most: the miserable state of the roads, Labour’s closure of local services and their imposition of parking charges which will harm our town and village centres.”

Other candidates in the Birstall and Birkenshaw ward are Tahir Akram of the Green Party, Julie Smith of Labour and Louise Walsh of the Liberal Democrats.

All three councillors in the ward are currently Conservative, with Joshua Sheard winning with 49% of the vote last year and Elizabeth Smaje elected with 53% of the vote. Cllr Thompson was most recently elected in 2021.

A third of all 69 seats on Kirklees council are up for election on Thursday, with one seat in each of the 23 wards going to the polls. The council currently has a Labour majority with Labour (35 seats), Conservative (18 seats), Liberal Democrat (8 seats), Green (3 seats), Kirklees Community Independents Group (4 seats) other Independents (1 seat).

Of the 23 district seats up for election this year, Labour holds 11, Conservative eight, Liberal Democrats one, Kirklees Community Independents (KCI) Group one, Independent one, and Green one.