Politician who allegedly said all white men should have Black slave is suspended
"It's nothing wrong with the skin color; it is just they're a lower class than us white people, you know," added the recorded man, said to be Andrew Edwards, a Pembrokeshire County Council member.
The Conservative Party in Britain suspended a politician over a recording alleged to be of him suggesting that all white men own enslaved Black people.
On Thursday, Welsh Conservatives verified the suspension of Pembrokeshire County Council member Andrew Edwards amid an investigation into the recording.
The audio recording initially was made public by the news website Nation.Cymru. The site did not make clear the origin or date of the recording. It features a man other council members identified as Edwards saying, “Nothing wrong with the skin color at all,” according to The Independent.
“I think all white men should have a Black man as a slave or a Black woman as a slave, you know,” Edwards continued, The Independent reported. “It’s nothing wrong with skin color; it is just they’re a lower class than us white people, you know.”
Edwards, who was elected in May 2022 to represent the ward of Haverfordwest, resigned from the Welsh Conservatives’ group on the council on Tuesday. His party is the opposition in the local government, which, since 1996, independent groups have led.
“I am aware of such serious allegations being made against me,” Edwards stated in remarks published on Wednesday, The Independent reported. While confirming he self-referred to the Public Services Ombudsman for an independent evaluation, Edwards said, it would be “unfair on the process” for him to comment further.
The Welsh Conservatives’ leader, Andrew RT Davies, said party members do not share the opinions heard on the tape, The Independent reported.
“The views expressed in the recording,” Davies contended, “are disgraceful [and] abhorrent.”
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