Former councillor barred from public office seeks comeback in west Wales

Emily Price

An ex-councillor and convicted criminal who was barred from public office for three years is set to contest a by-election in west Wales.

Former Pembrokeshire councillor Paul Dowson will stand as an Independent candidate in the Pembroke Dock Market by-election on July 9.

The move comes just weeks after he failed to secure a seat in the Ceredigion Penfro constituency at the Senedd election on May 7, where he stood as an Independent while also citing an affiliation with Rupert Lowe’s Restore Britain party.

Mr Dowson finished at the bottom of the leader board, winning only 88 votes.

He was previously elected in Pembroke Dock Central in 2017 as an Independent and made a failed bid for a seat in the Senedd under UKIP’s banner in 2021.

In 2022, Mr Dowson was disqualified from holding public office in every local authority in Wales for three years.

It followed a misconduct investigation by the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales and a hearing by the Adjudication Panel for Wales.

Mr Dowson was found to have falsely accused a colleague of distributing illegal pornography, and had alleged that a member of the public was a sex offender.

In recent days, he repeated these claims, publishing a post to Facebook saying: “If bullying is exposing a deviant councillor who preyed on a teenage girl, then I am a bully.”

Public Services Ombudsman for Wales, Michelle Morris, investigated three separate complaints against Dowson in 2022.

Speaking at the time, she said: “The false allegations and statements made by former councillor Dowson were potentially harmful and reputationally damaging to the individuals concerned and to the council.

“This is the second outcome of a hearing into the conduct of former councillor Dowson in as many months.

“The decision to disqualify the member from holding office for three years reflects the seriousness of his conduct.”

The APW said Dowson’s behaviour amounted to harassment and bullying and that he had deliberately attempted to mislead the Ombudsman by providing a fake social media post as evidence.

Mr Dowson was also previously censured by the local authority’s Standards Committee for publishing Facebook posts relating to the Black Lives Matter movement that were “likely to be considered racist”.

At the time, he denied posting the content and said he was not racist.

However, on May 16 this year, amid large-scale demonstrations in London involving tens of thousands of Tommy Robinson supporters, Mr Dowson shared a Facebook post stating: “So proud to be British today. Unite the Kingdom.”

By the time he was banned from standing for elected office, Mr Dowson was no longer a serving councillor, having lost his bid for re-election in Pembrokeshire’s Bush ward at the 2022 local elections.

In September 2023, he was convicted of working illegally as a pub doorman and ordered to pay £3,201.50 after carrying out security duties at a Tenby pub without the required licence.

Dowson joined UKIP in early 2021 and was quickly handed a prominent role in the party’s Senedd election campaign.

Then-UKIP leader Neil Hamilton said he was “delighted” to have Dowson as an “integral part” of the party’s election efforts.

Standing for UKIP in Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire at the 2021 Senedd election, Dowson finished fifth with 982 votes, securing 3.1 per cent of the vote.

He was also placed third on UKIP’s Mid and West Wales regional list, but the party finished seventh overall in the region with just 1.6 per cent of the vote.