The newly elected Conservative mayor of Walsall has been suspended from the party over a racist post from her WhatsApp account. Rose Martin claimed someone had hacked her account and posted the offending image, which showed five black children looking at one white child under the caption: “First day at school for a Ukrainian refugee in south London.” After an investigation by the national Conservative party, Martin has been suspended for six months and ordered to take diversity training, just nine days after becoming the mayor of the West Midlands town. The image was posted in March, when Martin was deputy mayor, and was seen by residents who said they were “shocked and disgusted” by the post and lodged an official complaint with the party, triggering an investigation. At the time, Martin told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) her account had been hacked and she had reported the matter to the police. “I’ve been compromised and I’ve reported it to the police,” she said. The suspension does not prevent Martin from continuing in the civic role of mayor, to which she was elected on 23 May in a ceremony at Walsall Council House. Martin, who was first elected as a councillor in 2003, will be able to continue to sit as an independent representative for the Pelsall ward for the next six months until she can apply to rejoin the Conservative party. On Wednesday night, Martin maintained that she had been hacked and said she would appeal against the suspension.
The Walsall Labour leader, Aftab Nawaz, said his party could not support Martin’s nomination as mayor due to the issue. Mike Bird, the Conservative leader of Walsall council, told the LDRS he was awaiting official notification from the national party on the outcome of its investigation. However, he confirmed she had been given a six-month suspension, directed to undertake diversity training and ordered to make an apology to the party board. The council’s chief executive and monitoring officer are also aware of the complaints. The Guardian has approached the Conservative party for comment.