Bolton: Hulton Conservative candidate's 'racial' comments

Cllr Derek Bullock, who represents Hulton, was announced this week as a Conservative Party candidate in the upcoming local election.

But a Facebook comment, which his collegues say they believe is "fake", seemingly made by an account which appears to show Mr Bullock’s name and profile picture, stating: “shoot the P*kis on the spot” under a BBC News post about the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing has surfaced this week. 

In response, Bolton South East MP Yasmin Qureshi said: “I’m absolutely disgusted by the deeply offensive racial comments.

Derek Bullock is a candidate in the upcoming town hall elections (Image: Newsquest)

“Moreover, this decision shows a lack of commitment to integrity and calls into question his suitability for public office and ability to represent our multicultural town.”

The alleged comments have been shared several times on social media and have been circulating on WhatsApp and Twitter.

The posts, which appear to have been made on Mr Bullock's personal Facebook account, have emerged after a string of other remarks allegedly made on social media which saw him suspended by the Conservative Party in 2020.

In March of that year Mr Bullock was suspended after being named by the Hope not Hate charity on a list of councillors and activists accused of sharing “Islamophobic” content online.

He allegedly posted an article from a group calling itself JihadiWatch about former Conservative Party chairman Sayeeda Warsi commenting, "she's been a cuckoo in the nest."

Mr Bullock also shared a Daily Mail article about the number of Muslim children in England and Wales doubling over a decade, with the comment: "the clock is ticking."

But at the time the suspension was enacted as a neutral act for an investigation to take place, which did not imply any wrong doing.

The party announced this week that Mr Bullock had been reselected as a candidate for Hulton.

Hope not Hate CEO Nick Lowles said: "All of this begs the question why the Conservative Party selected him in the first place?"

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The Conservative Party nationally has now expelled Mr Bullock but he will still appear as a candidate on ballot papers in the upcoming election.

A spokesperson said: “Cllr Bullock has been expelled from the Conservative Party.”

But Bolton Conservative Party leader Cllr Martyn Cox said the he and his colleagues believe the post has been faked and are working to find proof.

He said: "We have strong reasons to believe the this particular post, not all the posts, but this particular post, is fake.

"We are carrying out investigations to prove that the post is fake.

"However we recognise that the Conservative Party nationally has expelled Derek Bullock and he will not sit as a Conservative councillor.

"Cllr Bullock's posts of six years ago were unnacceptable but he has paid a heavy price and his conduct has been exemplary since then."