Councillor suspended by Welsh Conservatives while slavery comments are investigated

A Welsh Conservative councillor who was recorded saying that white men should have black slaves has been suspended by the party while the matter is investigated.

Earlier this week Nation.Cymru revealed the existence of an audio recording in which Pembrokeshire county councillor Andrew Edwards from Haverfordwest can be heard saying: “Nothing wrong with the skin colour at all. I think all white men should have a black man as a slave or black woman as a slave, you know. There’s nothing wrong with skin colour, it’s just that they’re lower class than us white people, you know.”

The comments caused outrage and have received UK-wide publicity.

A Welsh Conservative spokeswoman said: “Cllr Edwards has been suspended from the party following a decision taken by headquarters officials and there will be an internal investigation into the matter.”

Cllr Edwards has already referred himself to the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales, who is deciding whether to launch a formal inquiry to determine whether he has broken the councillors’ code of conduct.

The councillor has offered no public explanation about how the comments came to be made or recorded.

Before the suspension, it was mutually agreed that he would be excluded from the Conservative council group.