Conservative Leader Apologises Over 'Apartheid' Remarks
Having originally doubled down Gerald McGregor admits they were inappropriate
Gerald McGregor on Chiswick High Road campaigning against Cycleway 9
The leader of the Conservative group on Hounslow Council, Gerald McGregor, has apologised for comparing traffic measures in the borough to apartheid.
The councillor for Chiswick Homefields ward had described the new traffic orders being implemented by the council as like a ‘creeping apartheid’ in his weekly update on this site and claimed that Chiswick residents were being subject to separation tactics similar to those previously used in South Africa.
That led one Labour councillor to describe him as a ‘bombastic dinosaur’ and say that he was out of touch.
Originally, he said he was not prepared to tone town his language and blamed the policies of the council for raising the temperature of the debate.
Now he has reconsidered and issued a statement saying, “I have taken some time to reflect on my remarks over the past week and would like to apologise unreservedly for the comments I made. The language is inappropriate and has understandably caused offence to residents and this was never my intention.
"My words fell well short of the high standards by which I try to conduct myself in public life and, while I will never stop standing up for people across the London Borough of Hounslow, I recognise that in future I must take more care with the language I use.”
The party recently suspended former chair of Riverside Ward Conservatives David Giles for using the phrase ‘Brentford Taliban’ in reference to Labour councillors representing that area. He defended himself by saying that he was quoting someone else rather than applying the description himself.
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Jacob Phillips - Local Democracy Reporter
November 9, 2021
