Northampton candidate likens MP Peter Bone to a 'fascist' and a 'dictator' in firebrand speech

Northampton's outgoing mayor has been asked to retract comments likening Wellingborough MP Peter Bone to a 'fascist' and a 'dictator'.
Councillor Eales speaking at the Independent Socialists in Wellingborough meeting.Councillor Eales speaking at the Independent Socialists in Wellingborough meeting.
Councillor Eales speaking at the Independent Socialists in Wellingborough meeting.

Councillor Gareth Eales, who only handed over his chains in a Guildhall ceremony yesterday, was talking at an event held on International Workers Day organised by the Independent Socialists in Wellingborough group.

The long-serving union official was elected as the County Council’s Dallington Spencer division representative in 2013 and will stand as a Labour MP for Northampton South in the nextGeneral Election.

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Giving a speech about Conservative Britain, he said: “There are stark similarities between Trump’s America and Tory Britain today.

Councillor Gareth Eales, left, branded Conservative Peter Bone a fascist at a public meeting in Wellingborough.Councillor Gareth Eales, left, branded Conservative Peter Bone a fascist at a public meeting in Wellingborough.
Councillor Gareth Eales, left, branded Conservative Peter Bone a fascist at a public meeting in Wellingborough.

“But he in his ilk, Jacob Reece-Mogg, Nigel Farage, Peter Bone, for those living in Wellingborough, they are products of our time, anti-immigrant, populist, fascist, dictators.”

Peter Bone is a known rebel Conservative MP, an outspoken Brexit supporter and a member of political advisory board Leave Means Leave.

Mr Bone said: “I have stood in the general elections in 1992, 1997, 2001, 2005, 2010, 2015 and 2017 under the democratic mandate; I can hardly be regarded as a fascist or a dictator.

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“I think he (Gareth Eales) should start talking about issues, moderate his language and stop calling other people names.”

Mr Bone also called for Councillor Eales to retract the comments.

He said: "The idea we are speaking like fascists is abhorrent.

"I would argue that Nigel, Jacob and myself stand up for people's democratic beliefs.

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"If he is a parliamentary candidate, he has to withdraw those remarks unreservedly, they are unacceptable and wrong."

Councillor Eales said that his speech was referring to the type of rhetoric he believed the above men to be using and said the comment was not meant in the literal sense.

Mr Eales’ also criticised the government for the recent Windrush scandal in which Caribbean immigrants were wrongly deported by officials.

He said: “This was a mantra towards arbitrary immigration targets.

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“It was right for Amber Rudd to resign but the Prime Minister should have followed.”

He finished by throwing his weight behind Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and urging people to vote for the party in the next election which is due to be held in 2022.

Councillor Tony Ansell replaced him as mayor at a Guildhall ceremony yesterday.