A man hoping to be elected as a local councillor has insisted he is not behind online posts targeting the local council, politicians, and minorities — although he said he finds some of the posts funny.
Chris Warren is hoping to be elected the new independent councillor for Saltford on Bath and North East Somerset Council in a local byelection on January 16. He has insisted he is not behind an account on X (formerly Twitter) which has called the council “utter reprehensible s***bags” and called council workers “w**kstains.”
Amongst these tweets, the account has also tweeted several selfies of Mr Warren, images taken inside and outside his home, and made references to Saltford and being chair of the local parish council. Mr Warren chaired Saltford Parish Council for seven years. In response to one tweet from another account asking what “death threats” women use, the account tweeted a four second video of Mr Warren putting on mock-feminine voice.
But Mr Warren insisted it was not his X account and said he had not even seen it, suggesting the images of him had been taken from Facebook. He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “People can get images of people, can’t they? Drop them in and do all sorts of stuff.”
He said: “It ain’t me. So if someone’s putting stuff out there, I didn’t do it. I don’t know. […] I’ve been trolled.”
The account — under the name “The Ghost of Dominic Grieve” — has tweeted frequently since 2019. Tweets from the X account have called Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch a “dopey looking mare,” Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner “thick as pig s***,” and former Green MP Caroline Lucas “a Green r***rd.”
Mr Warren laughed as he was read these tweets by the Local Democracy Reporting Service. Asked if the tweets reflected his views, Mr Warren said: “No.” He then added: “I find them quite funny. I do find some of them quite humorous.”
In response to a video of a woman saying: “We need less George Floyds and Jordan Neeleys in this world,” the account responded with two thumbs up emojis and the words: “Absolutely amazing.” A tweet about Mohammed Iidow, who raped and killed an NHS worker, described him as “sub saharan scum.”
The X account replied “yep” to a tweet asking: “Do you consider yourself anti-Islam?” and retweeted a tweet about standing with Tommy Robinson. The account tweeted about two letters it claimed to have sent to the RNLI accusing them of being a taxi service for economic migrants, criminals, and “Islamic paedophiles.”
Tweets making reference to repeated visits to Hungary, have praised Viktor Orban. In response to a tweet from another account about “garbage migrants,” the account said: “Now entering my fourth week here in Hungary. Absolutely no diversity whatsoever. Haven’t seen one. Well done Viktor.”
Mr Warren previously stood as an independent to be one of Saltford’s two councillors at the 2023 Bath and North East Somerset Council elections. He was beaten by just 33 votes by Liberal Democrat Alison Streatfeild-James — the councillor whose resignation triggered the byelection. Duncan Hounsell (also Liberal Democrat) remains Saltford’s other councillor.
Mr Warren said: “I thought I’ll stand again and see what happens.” He has been a major voice in the campaign to bring back Saltford Station. He said: “I’ve been campaigning for the station for a long time and been badly let down by local politicians.”
He also warned that Saltford and the district’s outlying villages had become “a dumping ground for development” and said he wanted to challenge the plans for bus lanes on the A4. He said: “These bus lanes are going to be a nightmare. It will be a nightmare for Saltford and the surrounding areas. It will sort of emanate out and we will have gridlock. That’s the issues I’m standing against and I will stand against them so we will see how it goes.”
Mr Warren said he did not think people would “give a monkey’s either way” about the X account. He said: “If people don’t want to vote for me, they don’t want to vote for me if they think it’s associated with me. If they do they do, if they don’t they don’t.”
Although named for the village by the Avon, Saltford ward actually covers a large area of North East Somerset, including Burnett, Bath Spa University’s Newton Park campus, Chewton Keynsham, Compton Dando, Corston, Newton St Loe, and even Queen Charlton on the other side of Keynsham.
Also standing in the byelection are:
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Andrew David Busby (Conservative)
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Daniel Patrick Condick (Reform UK)
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Jane Emma Giddins (Labour)
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Hossein Pirooz (Liberal Democrat)
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Luanne Thornton (Green)
You will need to bring one of the 20 accepted forms of photo ID with you to vote. You can check if your ID is on the list here.
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