Tory councillor Andrew Edwards suspended over ‘racist’ slavery comments

A Tory councillor has been suspended by the party over alleged racist remarks claiming “all white men should have a black man as a slave”. Pembrokeshire County councillor Andrew Edwards is also accused of saying black people are of “lower class” than white people.

The allegations surfaced after an audio recording allegedly to be that of Mr Edwards’ voice appeared online. The councillor, who also sits as a magistrate and a self-employed hairdresser, said he had referred himself to the Ombudsmen and left the Tory group.

In the recording, published by Nation Cymru, the person speaking can be heard as saying: "Nothing wrong with the skin colour at all. I think all white men should have a black man as a slave or black woman as a slave, you know. There’s nothing wrong with skin colour, it’s just that they’re lower class than us white people."

It is however unclear when or where the 16-second clip was recorded. But on Thursday (April 13), the Welsh Conservatives confirmed to Sky News he had also been suspended, pending an investigation.