'I regret my choice of words' - Staffordshire Reform councillor apologises for ‘disgusting’ tweets about black women and police
A Reform UK councillor has apologised for his ‘choice of words’ in tweets about black women and the police.
The social media posts by Peter Mason, councillor for Burton South and cabinet member for strategic highways on Staffordshire County Council, dating from 2023 and 2024, were recently highlighted by the ‘Reform Party UK Exposed’ account on X, formerly Twitter.
In one tweet, posted in March 2024, Councillor Mason said: “What a surprise a statue of a fat arsed black woman.” And in another post, from April 2024, he said: “Utter rubbish the police now are a bunch of politically indoctrinated British hating scum.”
He also said the police ‘take the knee to BLM, paint rainbows and dance around like fairies’. Reform Party UK Exposed described the posts as ‘pretty disgusting’, and also said his tweets about trans people were ‘graphic and insulting’.
Councillor Mason, who has since deleted his X account, noted that the posts pre-dated his membership of Reform UK and his election as a councillor in May of this year. But he said he regretted the wording of his posts and insisted he did not hold racist or homophobic views.
Councillor Mason said: “These tweets were made in 2023 and early 2024 when I was not a member of any political party or elected as a councillor and during a difficult time personally, affected by grief and redundancy. I do regret and apologise for my choice of words.
“I do hold traditional views but have never cared as to someone’s race, colour, religion or orientation. My strongest held belief of all is one of meritocracy and all being equal of opportunity. No one is better or more worthy than another.
“Having joined Reform and become a councillor I have found this has allowed me to recover from my negative frame of mind and find a way to a more positive and optimistic outlook.”
Reform UK has been approached for comment.
