Brighton councillor apologises for 'rape' tweet

A Brighton councillor and cabinet member has resisted calls for his resignation and apologised for making what was intended as a light-hearted remark about rape.

Green councillor Ben Duncan said that he would not be stepping down as the council’s cabinet member for community safety over the matter.

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He faced calls for his removal from two senior Labour councillors – the party’s leader in Brighton and Hove, Gill Mitchell, and its community safety spokesman Warren Morgan.

But he was defended by Conservative councillor Graham Cox who previously served as a senior police officer.

Councillor Duncan tweeted a remark which was described by his party leader Councillor Bill Randall as “in bad taste”.

The offending tweet came after Councillor Duncan took part in an online exchange after blogging about changes in the law relating to cannabis cafés in the Netherlands.

On his Kemptown Ben blog on Saturday (28 April) he asked: “Is it time for Brighton, the liberal, tolerant, tourist capital of Europe, to legalise the cannabis café?”

And he concluded: “I expect to be misunderstood so I predict the following headline soon: Green councillor calls for Brighton to be the pot capital of Europe.”

In the ensuing exchange on Twitter he was asked whether he smoked cannabis himself and tweeted: “I only smoke weed when I’m murdering, raping and looting!”

Today (Monday 30 April) he said: “I apologise unreservedly for mentioning rape in what was meant to be a light-hearted ironic tweet.

“I understand that this may have caused distress and I’m sorry.

“On the topic of my blog about cannabis cafés the wording is clear that I was not calling for ‘coffee shops’ to open in Brighton but was simply joining the current debate about drug decriminalisation by satirically asking whether Brighton is as liberal as Amsterdam used to be.

“I’m sorry if anyone misunderstood my intention.”

Cllr Bill Randall — Councillor Bill Randall

Councillor Bill Randall, the leader of Brighton and Hove City Council, said: “I’m pleased that Ben has apologised for his remarks about rape as they were undoubtedly in bad taste.

“Rape simply is not a joking matter even when the joke is intended to be ironic or satirical.

“But opposition councillors who’ve called for his removal are being opportunistic.

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“Ben has done a great deal of good work as a councillor, particularly for the neighbourhoods and communities of Brighton and Hove, and it is wrong to take advantage of his momentary lapse of judgment.”

Yesterday (Sunday 29 April) Labour said: “Over the weekend Councillor Ben Duncan, who is the current Green cabinet member for policing and community safety, has been the subject of much attention after further alarming comments on the social media site Twitter.

“His call for the public to join the ‘Smash EDO’ demonstration on the weekend of the Queen’s Jubilee has been met with anger by local businesses who are already suffering from massive Green-imposed parking charge increases and who worry that the opportunity to bring in much-needed cash will be thwarted as the public stay away due to his comments.

“He then went on to outline how the city could benefit from having licensed cannabis cafés which, he claims, would boost tourism, which is presumably his economic plan to make up the shortfall in tourists being driven away from the city after the Green administration hiked parking fees.