You have to go some to out-sleaze your average UKIP candidate, but Brian Silvester, who’s standing for councillor in today’s Crewe West by-election manages it.
Mr Silvester has been censured when he was a councillor in Cheshire East, for breaking his duty of care toward council employees.
He was fined £45,000, plus £22,000 in costs, for 11 flagrant breaches of fire safety regulations in 2012 – putting tenants’ lives at in a house which he was renting to them illegally.
Much more recently, he tweeted encouraging followers to protest outside the houses of 3 high-court judges who had dared to suggest that Parliament should have a say on Brexit, after a ‘leave’ campaign in which the sovereignty of Parliament over the EU was a major issue, showing his contempt for the rule of law and the safety of the judiciary.
He also put his foot in his mouth by boasting he was going to win today’s election because he had lots of Twitter followers when his Labour opponent Natasha Maroni had only a few – and note how he still calls himself ‘Cllr’ even though he was kicked off Cheshire East council by voters:
I have 9737 followers
My Lab opponent @tasha4ctc has a massive 17.
Tory Candidate is a paper candidate only, with no chance of winning. https://t.co/WODmUPsGnB— Cllr Brian Silvester. #PrescribeChloroquineNOW ❌ (@CllrBSilvester) November 14, 2016
Only hours later, karma struck when a Twitter campaign led to this:
With nonsense like this, it’s probably not coincidental that his initials are ‘BS’.
If you’re eligible to vote in this by-election, or if you know someone who is, there are still a few hours before polls close.
Make sure you/they get out and vote for Ms Maroni to put this tosser in his place – which is miles away from any kind of power, influence or the status he so obviously craves.