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Following last week’s dramatic suspension of three Oldham Borough councillors by the Conservative Party (read full story here), it looks as though we are still nearer the start of that controversy than the end. Their formation of a new entity on the Council known as The Oldham Group was exclusively revealed by Neil Wilby Media the following day (read more here).

Now, a fourth Conservative elected Member is understood to have been reported to Party HQ over the wearing of an elf outfit in Palestine’s colours of red, green, white and black at public gatherings.

Cllr Dave Arnott, who served in the Army as a non-commissioned officer, and revelled in the nickname, “Flash”, represents the same Royton North ward as Cllr Lewis Quigg, whom is suspected of reporting Cllrs Kamran Ghafoor, Muhammad Irfan and Abdul Wahid over their attendance at a pro-Palestine rally in London (read more here). All the latter three represent the former Labour Party stronghold of Hollinwood.

When approached for comment, both Cllrs Arnott and Quigg have declined to put the record straight. It is said locally that they both harbour a grudge against Cllr Ghafoor after he blocked Cllr Arnott from becoming the Tory Group Leader on the Council. Cllr Graham Sheldon (Saddleworth South) retained the leadership and Cllr Ghafoor became his Deputy in May, 2023.

A well respected political source in Oldham’s Muslim heartland says: “It may look tit-for-tat, but those of us who campaign tirelessly for the liberation of Palestine and freedom from Israel’s oppression take very serious issue with Cllr Arnott appearing to mock us, and our flag, in this way”. 

“As a councillor and a former military man he should know better”.

“The close association of Cllrs Arnott and Quigg with Raja Miah is also a concern to us. Particularly, after the latter smeared all Muslims in Oldham by saying publicly that we were going to kidnap him and stone him to death (read more here).

“Thankfully, the local police put a stop to him repeating such divisive, hateful nonsense”.

UPDATE: One serving Labour councillor has raised concerns of a different nature over the wearing of an elf outfit in public by Cllr Arnott, but the latter is adamant that it is justified, “to switch on the Xmas lights, raise money for charity and distribute gifts to local children…. a bad thing????”

Following the publication of this article, Dave Arnott blocked Neil Wilby on Twitter (or ‘X’ for those that prefer) rather than reply to this post: “It’s plain enough, if you’ve read the article: That Lewis Quigg allegedly reported three fellow Conservative councillors for attending pro-Palestine march”.

A serving Conservative councillor in Oldham Borough, Cllr Max Woodvine (Saddleworth South), earlier this year described Cllrs Arnott and Quigg (and the now deposed Cllr Robert Barnes) as ‘not proper Tories’ over their association with Raja Miah and the collective obsession with grooming gangs, Asian cartels, murder plots, mobsters, gangsters and goons (read more here).

Follow Neil Wilby on Twitter (here) and Neil Wilby Media on Facebook (here) for signposts to any updates.

Page last updated: Saturday 2nd December, 2023 at 0955 hours

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