A STAFF member in the team of Thurrock MP Dame Jackie Doyle-Price has been readmitted to the Conservative Party following his expulsion in April last year after he appeared to suggest a rape victim was a sex worker.

Shaun Slator, who is a councillor representing the St Mary Cray ward of Bromley Council, has been allowed to rejoin the Conservative Party, from which he was expelled a post from his account on X (formerly Twitter) at the end of 2022.

Cllr Slator replied to a post on X from the News Shopper pubblication on December 31 2022, reporting on an alleged rape in Plumstead Park.

In his reply, which has since been deleted, Cllr Slator wrote: "More likely that it's a punter that didn't pay."

The Conservative Party expelled Cllr Slator from the party in April 2023 in accordance with its code of conduct and formal complaints process. During his expulsion he remained on the staff team for Dame Doyle-Price.

She declined to comment on the matter saying she was restricted by employment legislation and that the matter was still pending an investigation.

Now the Conservative party has confirmed to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that the councillor has been allowed to return to the group.

A Conservative Party spokesperson said: "Mr Slator has been readmitted to the Conservative Party after sincerely apologising for his actions as well as undertaking training and outreach with community groups."

The councillor was suspended from the Bromley Conservative Group in January 2023 after the authority received 18 complaints about the controversial reply on X. A document shared with the LDRS stated that Bromley Council decided not to punish the councillor, stating that an independent investigator felt 'agonised' about their conclusion but felt that Cllr Slator was not acting in his capacity as a councillor at the time.

Regarding his readmission, Lib Dem Councillor Graeme Casey, and parliamentary candidate for Orpington for the party, told the LDRS: "Of course it is up to the Conservative Party who they accept as members and representatives of their constituents. I am surprised they have chosen to readmit Cllr Slator, who was responsible for a very offensive and misogynistic comment about rape victims."

He added: "It will be up to the constituents of St Mary Cray to decide if they feel that they could be better represented in future. The electorate has a longer memory and better understanding of the issue of misogyny than the Conservative Party I feel."

Cllr Slator sat as an independent councillor for the duration of his expulsion, but UK Parliament documents from March this year listed him as still being a parliamentary passholder working for Dame Doyle-Price.

Jen Craft, Labour's parliamentary candidate for the Thurrock constituency, told the LDRS that she was astounded by the MP appearing to continue to employ the councillor.

She said: "By apparently refusing to take action against Cllr Slator, despite her own party believing his actions to be worthy of censor, Jackie Doyle-Price has demonstrated a complete disregard for her constituents."

Cllr Slator apologised for his comments in response to the alleged rape at a Bromley Council meeting in February 2023.

The councillor claimed he had posted the response in order to highlight the issue of women being exploited in Plumstead and that he had since deactivated his X account.

He said at the time: "I'm not ashamed to admit that I am fallible, and I have made a mistake. I now understand that with the privilege afforded to me as a councillor to better serve my community comes a responsibility to reflect more deeply on what I say and post online."

The issue has echoes of a situation in Thurrock earlier this year when senior members of Thurrock's Conservative Party formally complained about a repost on social media of a post by independent councillor Gary Byrne, which resulted in him being instructed by Thurrock Council's Standards committee to undertake training on equalities and diversity, and social media - which he has since completed. Cllr Byrne was also told to make a personal apology to the two senior Conservatives, Cllrs Deborah Arnold and Barry Johnson, who had raised the complaint and who had called for heavier sanctions against him.

Senior Conservatives then named and criticised Cllr Byrne in council meetings, prompting the accusation that they were weaponising social media and comments for political gain.

A formal complaint was made against Thurrock Council leader Cllr Andrew Jefferies, who 'named and shamed' Cllr Byrne at full council, by the indepenent group spokesperson, Cllr Neil Speight - which has since been settled by agreement after intervention from the Council's newly appointed legal and monitoring officer.