A British Conservative Party councillor has been arrested over allegations he called for a female journalist to be stoned to death, West Midlands Police said today.
Gareth Compton, a councillor for Erdington, Birmingham, was arrested last night and questioned over comments he allegedly made on his Twitter account.
A spokeswoman for West Midlands Police said: “We can confirm a 38-year-old man from Harborne has been arrested for an offence under section 127 (1a) of the Communications Act of 2003 on suspicion of sending an offensive or indecent message.
“He has been bailed pending further inquiries.”
Mr Compton allegedly made the comments after an appearance by writer Yasmin Alibhai-Brown on a BBC radio programme during which human rights abuses in China were discussed.
Mr Compton allegedly tweeted: "Can someone please stone Yasmin Alibhai-Brown to death? I shan't tell Amnesty if you don't. It would be a blessing, really."
He later said he had made an "ill conceived" attempt at humour and apologised for any offence caused.
"I did not 'call' for the stoning of anybody. I made an ill-conceived attempt at humour in response to Yasmin Alibhai-Brown saying on Radio 5 Live this morning, that no politician had the right to comment on human rights abuses, even the stoning of women in Iran. I apologize for any offence caused. It was wholly unintentional," he wrote on his twitter account.
There have been calls from unions for Mr Compton to step down and his membership of the Conservative Party has been suspended.
Roger McKenzie, Unison West Midlands regional secretary, said: “Unison have been inundated with complaints from Birmingham City Council staff who are outraged at these appalling racist comments from their political masters.
“Birmingham is a multicultural city and the council’s workforce reflects this.
“It is clear that councillor Compton is out of touch with both his city and the council staff. It is wholly unacceptable for a public official to make such racist comments. Councillor Compton must resign his seat immediately.
“If a council worker would have made such a statement they would quite rightly be disciplined.
“If councillor Compton won’t resign his seat then councillor Whitby and David Cameron should do the honourable thing and force him to quit rather than try and defend the indefensible.”
The Conservative Party said Mr Compton had been suspended indefinitely over the alleged tweet.
A spokesman said: “Language of this sort is not acceptable and as a result Gareth Compton’s membership of the Conservative Party has been indefinitely suspended pending further investigation.”
Additional reporting: PA
