Bucks councillor deletes tweet saying he will boycott racism training
He branded it a "pointless waste of time".
A councillor has deleted a tweet in which he branded racial bias training a “pointless waste of time”.
Councillor John Chilver announced on Friday (2 October) his intention to boycott an exercise for Buckinghamshire councillors in "unconscious racism", proposed by Labour member, Cllr Rafiq Raja.
However, the tweet, which read: "You can count me out of this pointless waste of time", was taken down shortly after it was published.
Cllr Raja announced during a High Wycombe Community Board meeting, on Wednesday (23 September), plans for councillors to be educated in racial bias and Black history.
He said, "our fellow councillors in particular", need to better understand, "why there is so much passion and frustration associated with the Black Lives Matter campaign".
Cllr Raja, who is chairman of High Wycombe’s Community Cohesion Working Group, told members "two or three very good speakers" had been arranged for the talk, which coincides with Black History Month running throughout October.
Shortly after news of the exercise was posted online however, Cllr Chilver published a tweet explaining his intention to boycott the session, but later deleted his statement.
Speaking to our Local Democracy Reporter, Cllr Chilver said he had no comment to make about any formal training, but added:
"I’m not a member for Wycombe so I don’t know if it’s for all Buckinghamshire councillors."