THE POLITICAL career of a councillor who used a racist word in a meeting could be over after he was suspended from the Labour Party.
Coun Dick Wraith - one of Barnsley’s longest-serving councillors - told the Chronicle yesterday that he was ‘categorically not racist’ but admitted he had used the phrase ‘nigger in the woodpile’ in a meeting with Berneslai Homes when referring to ongoing problems with a difficult tenant.
He said he had meant no disrespect to anybody and had immediately apologised for the slip of the tongue.
It was the second time he had used the phrase in a meeting in recent months.
“It was a saying in my day,” he told the Chronicle.
“I don’t mean anything racist by it at all. It’s something people of my generation say, meaning something is going to be awkward.
“I am not a racist. I’ve a lot of friends from ethnic minorities.”
Coun Wraith, 74, had previously run into trouble after a meeting in 2015 in which he referred to someone as a ‘Jew boy who doesn’t like paying’.
He admitted he was old fashioned and that outdated phrases occasionally ‘slip out’ without any malice behind them.
“I knew as soon as I’d said it I shouldn’t,” he said.
“I immediately apologised to everyone at the meeting.
“After the last time I said it, a few months back, I wrote a letter of apology to everyone who had been at the meeting. Nothing came back from that.
“But I knew when I said it again what was coming.”
Coun Wraith is now suspended from the party but had already been selected as the party’s candidate for Wombwell in the elections in May.
He has a meeting next week where he must decide whether to appeal the suspension and continue to fight for re-election, or step down.
“This is not how I would have wanted to go out,” he said.
“I’ve been selected, I’ve not been enjoying it as much as I used to but I’ve still got more to do and wanted to serve another term.”
A Labour Party source told the Chronicle: “It is unfortunate that someone who has served local government for over 40 years may be going out like this, but comments such as these are simply not acceptable in 2019 and everybody needs to realise that.”
Leader of the council, Sir Steve Houghton, said: “There is an investigation underway and we will await the outcome of that. It would be inappropriate for me to comment further.”
