Prospective Tory councillors Bill and Star Etheridge were in the running for seats on Dudley Council on the back of anti-political correctness sentiment, and hoped to be voted in in May’s forthcoming elections.
However, they thought it would be a wheeze to promote their cause by posing for pictures of them holding golliwogs and uploading them to Facebook.
Now, the wheels have fallen off their campaign following a backlash which resulted in disciplinary action by the Conservative Party.
In their defence, the couple said that they were attempting to promote debate about the whole issue of political correctness, and whether the notorious doll is a symbol of racism.
Mr Etheridge, 41, commented:
“We just wanted to stimulate debate and gollies are a perfect example of an innocent child’s toy that’s been transformed into something sinister by the politically correct brigade.
“We need to get back to a point where people can say what they think and not live in fear. That’s real democracy.”
However Conservative Party officials decided that the pictures were bad for the image of the party, and hauled the paid before a committee to decide what steps should be taken.
Originally, they had asked that the pictures be taken down, and the couple agreed, albeit reluctantly. However, a colleague made an official complaint, and a suspension from the party was handed down to them. Feeling that they had been betrayed by their party, the couple tendered their resignation.
Such pictures can ruin reputations thanks to the chance of them going viral online, and any search engine optimisation expert would agree that accusations of racism are very hard to keep out of search engine results pages.
The Etheridges have since joined UKIP after Mrs Etheridge, 39, accused Prime Minister David Cameron of failing to keep his promise of eliminating political correctness. She said:
“It’s just a child’s toy and the politically correct brigade are the ones who have turned it into a racist symbol. I grew up in Bury in Lancashire, so I have a lot of black and Asian friends and as children we had golly dolls and we never once thought of them as racist.
“Some people say it is offensive, but they’re generally do-gooders who are offended on behalf of other people.”
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