Council reports Restore Britain councillor to Ombudsman over ‘homophobic’ social media post

Emily Price

A Restore Britain councillor has accused a council of an “attack on freedom of speech” after being referred to the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales over his use of the authority’s branding on a letter containing controversial comments about the LGBTQ+ community.

Bridgend County Borough Council declined to comment on why it had referred Pyle, Kenfig Hill and Cefn Cribwr Councillor Owain Clatworthy to the Ombudsman, but he shared the full complaint letter with his social media followers on Wednesday (August 12).

In it, the council’s Monitoring Officer suggested that 22-year-old Clatworthy may have breached the Members Code of Conduct when he used the council’s branding on a letter he sent to a Church clergyman.

Several complaints had already been submitted to the Ombudsman against the Restore Britain councillor regarding views he had expressed online, including a post which said: “Islam is not compatible with Western civilisation”.

However, it is understood that those complaints did not meet the threshold for an investigation.

Bridgend’s Monitoring Officer stressed that the council was not seeking to challenge Cllr Clatworthy’s beliefs, but rather the way in which he publicly expressed his views and the “potential impact” it could have “on people with protected characteristics”.

Bridgend Council told the Ombudsman it had been “inundated” with complaints about Cllr Clatworthy following a post he published to Facebook in which he branded a rainbow coloured picnic table at a shopping centre a “mandatory ideology” which was “impossible to escape”.

His remarks made national news and prompted Bridgend Pride to also submit an official complaint to the Ombudsman.

A petition to remove the Restore councillor was later launched and quickly gathered over 2000 signatures.

Bridgend’s Monitoring Officer told the Ombudsman the petition showed “the strength of public concern” about Cllr Clatworthy’s behaviour.

The complaint laid out how the Restore councillor had used the council’s official logo on a letter he sent during a dispute with a Church in Wales clergyman.

The clergyman had written to Cllr Clatworthy arguing that the LGBTQ+ community had been “marginalised and excluded in the Church and in our communities for far too long”.

Cllr Clatworthy hit back in a letter bearing Bridgend Council’s official logo, arguing that “true Christian love does not affirm what God calls sin”.

He later published a copy of the letter to Facebook, prompting Bridgend Council to issue a statement clarifying that the views he had expressed in the correspondence did not reflect those of the local authority.

The Monitoring Officer said the use of the letterhead breached the Code of Conduct because it suggested Cllr Clatworthy “was acting as a representative of the authority”.

The Monitoring Officer added: “Cllr OC seems to have little regard for the impact his post would have on the public and in particular the LGBTQ community.

“When asked to clarify the purpose of his post Cllr OC stated: ‘It was to resist the forced normalisation of an ideology that denies biological reality and confuses children. The Church’s task is not to make people feel affirmed in their sin, but to point them to the only Saviour who can forgive and transform.'”

Sharing a copy of Bridgend Council’s complaint on Facebook, Cllr Clatworthy argued he had “said nothing illegal”.

He said: “This is not about standards. It’s a complete attack on freedom of speech.

“They are clearly concerned about the prospect of me being re-elected that they are prepared to use every mechanism available to try and remove me.

“I will not be silenced.”

In a later post to Facebook, Cllr Clatworthy said: “If I’m removed simply because I refused to fall in line and stay silent, so be it…

“I never got involved in politics for the title, power, or the money.

“My commitment does not change whether I’m on Bridgend Council or not.

“I will keep calling out the truth in a generation that calls evil good.

“Too many elected officials in Bridgend and across Wales care more about protecting their positions and future pensions than about doing what is right.”

In a further post to social media he said: “Ultimately, God is in control.

“Those in the Senedd, councils, and Parliament who oppose that truth will eventually learn the hard way.”

Cllr Clatworthy published another post to Facebook this morning (August 13) but later deleted it. It said: “Elected representatives must be free to speak.

“If councillors and MPs can only say what is ‘approved’, then voters are not being represented, they are being managed.

“Disagreement is not a threat to democracy. Silence enforced by pressure is.”

Sharing a photo of a plane to Facebook on Thursday afternoon along with the song YMCA by the Village People, Cllr Clatworthy said he was en route to Texas, “where freedom still means something”.

The Public Services Ombudsman for Wales told Nation.Cymru it is not currently investigating any complaints against Cllr Clatworthy.

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