It looks like social media may have claimed its second scalp of the campaign. Labour PPC John Cowan has just been suspended as the party’s candidate in South East Cambridgeshire after admitting to posting a series of sexually explicit and offensive comments online.
It’s rather worrying that alarm bells didn’t ring at Labour HQ after he was expelled from the Lib Dems in 2004 for sending “sexual emails”.
It’s now too late for the party to select a new candidate so this is another piece of good news for the Lib Dems, who will to hope pick up most of the Labour vote in the Tory-held seat.
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In the meantime, here are some of Cowan’s words of wisdom.
On paying his cleaner cash-in-hand:
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Its (sic) a cash in hand job so she does not have any Income Tax or National Insurnace (sic) on it and both her and her boyfriend live on benefits so they are quids in.
On Muslims:
Whilst I would not be happy if my future son or daughter wanted to date a Muslim it would be there (sic) decision at the end of the day.
On his love life:
Why limit it to just one woman? I would prefer one for each day of the week!”
Cowan apparently appealed on one forum for “some people to pose nude for me”. As in the case of Stuart MacLennan, the PPC who was suspended over a series of obsence tweets, one despairs that this man was standing for Parliament at all.
What’s still remarkable is that neither of the pair thought to go back and erase their digital footprint. But there’s still a casual assumption among some candidates that they can get away with saying online what they wouldn’t say on Newsnight or on Today. They can’t.