A councillor has defended historic social media posts, one of which described a woman as a “lazy b****”, as “nothing more than just silly tweets”.
Conservative county councillor Liam Walker has faced criticism for a series of controversial posts from 2012 to 2013 when he was aged between 22 and 23.
The posts on X, formerly known as Twitter, were made before he was Oxfordshire councillor for Hanborough and Minster Lovell.
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One Tweet during the 2012 Summer Paralympics opening ceremony at London’s Olympic Stadium was described as “troubling” by another county councillor.
During the ceremony on August 29, 2012, a Twitter user called @Mykee_T wrote: “Did I just hear that on the paralympic opening cera.. ‘for THOSE who can.. please stand for the national anthem. hahahaa”
Mr Walker replied: “hahaaa yes you did! The fat women in the row in front of me didn’t bother #lazyb**** .”
Another post from 2012 quotes a line from the BBC political satire TV series The Thick of It which reads: "is this what we come into politics for? Yep… and the p***y".
Earlier that year, Mr Walker wrote “#hotp***y” when describing Anne Hathaway’s performance as Catwoman in the 2012 Batman blockbuster The Dark Knight Rises.
Since he was approached for comment by the Oxford Mail last month, Mr Walker appears to have deleted the posts.
He told this newspaper: "Clearly someone has got too much time on their hands to have gone back through 10 years of my twitter to find them.
“I've tweeted over 30,000 times since joining the social media platform in 2011 so I don't recall sending these, but they seem to be quotes from TV programmes such as Big Brother, The Thick Of It or joke replies to friends.
“I was aged 22 or 23 at the time of these tweets being sent way before I was a councillor and before I got involved in politics.
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“These are nothing more than just silly tweets from a much younger and naive Liam Walker.”
Last month, Mr Walker criticised Kidlington councillor Ian Middleton for similarly controversial tweets made between 2011 and 2013.
Mr Middleton told the Oxford Mail he was “surprised” that Mr Walker “felt qualified to pass commentary on my 12 year old tweets” given his own history with social media.
He said: “On the face of it, the one relating to the Paralympics is highly questionable as it seems to be both ridiculing disabled people and body shaming.
“As someone who had a disabled father, I personally find that particular exchange troubling and can’t think of any justification for it.”
Conservative group leader Eddie Reeves declined to comment on Mr Walker’s posts.
In 2020, Mr Walker resigned as the council’s highways chief after facing backlash for endorsing an anti-cyclist tweet.
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