Kent county councillor Barry Lewis on being deselected by Labour over 'concerning' remarks and election betting
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00:00He's been representing Margate at the county council since 2017 and a Labour member for
00:05more than 30 years. Barry Lewis has now been deselected over concerning remarks. According
00:12to paperwork, he's said to have told a party colleague following an LGBTQ plus event last
00:16November that he had secured the gay vote. Last June, another senior member of the Labour
00:21team said Councillor Lewis was excited about having a Nigerian person on board. He is said
00:27to have claimed he had 200 Nigerians in his pocket. And on another occasion in the run
00:32up to this year's general election, he's alleged to have told an organiser he used third persons
00:37to place bets on elections. So you've been deselected as a candidate for the Labour Party.
00:42There was an investigation and they raised three issues. Do you dispute those? I think
00:48they were misinterpreted on purpose. The three issues were said in private. Two of them were
00:56jokes and one they were enquiring why I was banned from gambling 10 years ago in betting
01:04shops, which is to me irrelevant. This is a witch hunt. Some people might say some of
01:10the wording used could have been seen as offensive. Would you say that was the case? I would deny
01:15that completely. Only people that want to see wrong, it says more about them than it
01:23does about me. The Labour Party has declined to comment on this investigation. But as Councillor
01:29Lewis entered a council meeting today, he's still a party member, but he says he's considering
01:34his position in the group. It's like coming out of a bad marriage. You wish it was what
01:38it was when it started. But after 47 years, I'm enjoying the freedom. Gabriel Morris in Maidstone.