Portsmouth Independents Party election candidate kicked out for tweet wishing women to be beheaded

Tom Oulds, who had been due to represent the party in Cosham on Portsmouth City Council, posted the tweet last year and has since been suspended by Twitter. However, screenshots of his post have been seen by the The News.

Responding to two campaigners opposed to the expansion of rights for transgender women and their ability to access women’s spaces in June last year, he wrote the post, which he has now apologised for.

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‘Yeah cos I want to watch them as their heads get removed from their bodies,’ he said. ‘DW [don’t worry] I’ll let them put an extra shirt on so they people don’t mistake cold for fear.

The chairman of the Portsmouth Independents’ Party, Raymond Dent, which had candidates lined up to stand in all but one of the 14 wards on May 4, has now confirmed it has suspended Mr Oulds.

‘It was brought to our attention, in the last couple of days, that one of our candidates (an ex-Labour member and campaigner) Tom Oulds who is standing in Cosham ward – had posted something on a social media platform a year ago that was in very unacceptable, poor taste,’ his statement issued on Monday night (April 24) said.

He added that the party’s ‘detailed’ process for vetting potential candidates had found ‘no obvious issues’ and criticised political opponents for not making it public until a week before the election, describing it as ‘the incredibly poor and nasty side of local politics’.

‘Regardless, the social media comment that Tom Oulds published was so seriously concerning to us that we decided we have had to suspend Tom and terminate his membership with our party,’ his statement added. ‘We have discussed this with Tom and he understands and accepts our decision.

‘Although we are a broad church of opinion-based politics, what we can’t, won’t and don’t accept is any form of violent or aggressive behaviour or intent towards other people, regardless of the reasoning.

‘The social media comment Tom posted was wholly and wildly unacceptable under every circumstance and we strongly condemn this behaviour and have acted swiftly and accordingly to ensure we send a clear message that this kind of behaviour or rhetoric won’t be tolerated by our group of independents.’

Mr Oulds has now apologised for the post, describing it as ‘a mistake’ that he would learn from.

‘As a political candidate and advocate for the LGBTQ+ community, I understand that my past tweets, in which I used violent language, have recently resurfaced and caused concerns,’ he said. ‘I want to take this opportunity to explain why I used such language, and to apologise for any offence or harm that I may have caused.

I want to make it clear that I do not condone violence in any form and that my tweets were not meant to incite or promote violence.

‘As an LGBTQ+ person, I have experienced discrimination and homophobia first hand, I understand the frustration and anger that can arise from constantly having to defend our own humanity and right to exist.

‘In these moments, I let my emotions and passion for the cause get the best of me. I expressed myself in a way that was not productive or constructive.

‘I now see that this was a mistake, and I am committed to using more thoughtful and respectful language going forward. At the same time, I want to be clear that my passion and commitment to the LGBTQ+ community has not wavered, and that I will continue to fight for equality and justice for all people, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

‘I hope that you can understand my perspective and forgive me for my past mistakes. I am committed to learning from these experiences and growing as a person and as a political figure.’