Ombudsman not investigating Restore councillor accused of ‘extreme views’

Emily Price 

Public Services Ombudsman for Wales has confirmed it is not currently investigating any complaints against a Restore Britain councillor accused of expressing “extreme views” online.

Nation.Cymru was prompted to ask the Ombudsman if it had launched a probe into Owain Clatworthy’s conduct after the Pyle, Kenfig Hill and Cefn Cribwr councillor claimed a complaint against him had been thrown out because “being offended is not a reason to silence someone”.

We asked the independent body if it had disregarded any complaints against Cllr Clatworthy on the grounds he had alleged.

A spokesperson for the Ombudsman said: “We are not conducting an investigation into a complaint about the Councillor. We are not able to share any further information.”

In a post to Facebook, Cllr Clatworthy said: “Elected representatives must be free to speak the truth as they see it without fear of being cancelled by complaints designed to shut down debate.

“The public deserves straight talking representatives, not cowards who self censor to keep the offended class happy.

“I will continue to speak plainly. The silent majority expects nothing less.”

He later published what appeared to be a fragment of a separate complaint about his conduct.

The complainant stated: “The counselor [sic] on his official page on Facebook keeps highlighting crimes from people of colour and saying that the government should be ashamed of the sentences carried out whilst completely ignoring the same crimes and same outcomes by white British men.

“Even worse, he will reference crimes from around England and not even relevant to the council area that he is supposed to be serving.

“His page is made up of scamming and twisting the narrators to make people scared of foreigners and I believe that this is a breach of the council is code of conduct as it is promoting discriminatory behaviour.

“When I challenged him on this on his page he threw obscenities at me and then blocked me when I threatened to report him.

“Sadly he blocked me before I could take screenshots of the obscenities.

“Please can you look into this seriously as I believe this is concerning behaviour designed to stir up racial hatred.”

‘Divisive’

In a post attached to an image of the complaint document, Cllr Clatworthy said he would not be silenced “to keep the professionally offended happy”.

The former Reform Senedd election candidate has published a series of social media posts that have been described as “racist” and “divisive”, including statements claiming that “Islam is not compatible with Western civilisation” and that “multiculturalism is a failure”.

When a Bridgend councillor raised concerns about his presence on the corporate parenting committee because it requires him to act in the best interests of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, Cllr Clatworthy threatened her with legal action.

The practising Christian, who was brought up in the care system, also lashed out at the Church, claiming it had turned Jesus into a “timid woke wimp”, and later sparked a heated row by describing a town centre as a “complete dump”.

In recent days, Cllr Clatworthy has said that “self esteem cult educators” shouldn’t be encouraging “slow” children to have ambitions.

In a post to Facebook, he wrote: “If you’re slow, life will be harder. If you’re not bright, some doors will stay shut. Not everyone can do everything. That’s just reality.

“This constant ‘you’re special just for existing’ messaging is producing a generation of entitled narcissists who collapse the moment reality hits. Stop lying to kids. Tell them the truth.”

On Monday (July 27), he published the mugshot of Southport killer Axel Rudakubana to his Facebook page despite families of the murdered children explicitly calling for the killer’s image to be banned from public view to avoid re-traumatising the community.

Attention

Some Bridgend sources suggested that Cllr Clatworthy’s increasingly controversial posts were driven, in part, by the attention and publicity they generated for him.

In one Facebook post, the Restore councillor appeared to suggest he could one day feature in a Netflix documentary about how he refused to stay quiet.

The 22-year-old has recently taken up a regular spot on a podcast hosted by Welsh evangelical YouTuber Faith Jarvis.

The channel has faced significant controversy, with critics accusing Jarvis of platforming and legitimising individuals and views associated with the far-right and racist groups.

In several posts to Facebook Cllr Clatworthy has indicated that he has concerns he could be “killed” for his views.

In one post he wrote: “Speaking the truth in modern Britain will either get you killed or, at best, silenced. Well, guess what….We don’t care.”

In a Facebook post that has since been deleted, he described the alleged murder of Reform spokesperson Ann Widdecombe as a “warning”, adding that he would not be “backing down”.

Earlier this month South Wales Police confirmed that it was investigating an alleged assault against Cllr Clatworthy.

The force did not indicate whether the alleged assault was politically motivated.

---

Get more trusted Welsh news

Choose Nation.Cymru as a preferred source in Google News to see more of our journalism.