Buckinghamshire Council leader in Twitter row over WWII mural depicting Hitler and Swastika

Leader of Buckinghamshire Council Martin Tett leapt on a Twitter post in which a disability charity asked for the mural at Buckingham Community Centre “to be amended”, saying: “We should be proud of our stand against fascism.”

Cllr Tett said he was asked by Labour councillor and Buckingham Town Council member, Jon Harvey what he thought of the mural, at which point he replied it celebrated the defeat of fascism and did not in any way celebrate Hitler.

A slue of responses from other Twitter users who found the display “offensive” started flooding in, with one person branding the leader “utterly shameful”.

Cllr Tett said, “the Left” seeks to ban “whatever” it feels offended by and cited other regimes in history which “killed millions”.

The online furore all started when Cllr Tett replied to a call from Buckinghamshire Disability Services (BuDS) to amend the mural.

“As a disability charity representing the disabled people who were the Nazi’s first victims, we would prefer the mural to be amended,” a spokesperson for BuDS tweeted on July 31. “It can celebrate our war time achievement without Hitler and the Swastika in prime place.”

Twitter user, @Calmcarm responded: “Beautifully and sensitively put.”

Cllr Tett weighed in on August 2, saying: “So let’s start banning images, in whatever context, of people and things we find individually offensive.

“After the evil of Hitler and National Socialism what about Lenin, Stalin, Pol Pot all of whom killed millions? #1984”

Cllr Tett was chopped down by Twitter user @lensandletter, who wrote in response: “’Individually’??? Do we not, as a nation, find Nazism to be offensive? Is this the @Conservatives position or just yours? I would ask @BucksCouncil to consider whether your views represent the county. I think (hope) not.”

They added: “The state of this country, when we can’t even agree that displaying a portrait of Hitler and a swastika are offensive to ALL of us as humans, is truly shocking. And this is coming from a man who ‘leads’ our county council. Utterly shameful.”

BuDS also responded, calling Cllr Tett’s comments a “ridiculous overreaction”, adding remembering World War Two can be done “without sticking a massive picture of Hitler in prime place in a local community centre”.

Another Twitter user, @sadneck, said Cllr Tett wanted to be “the next Loz Fox (Laurence Fox) and act like a victim of oppression”.

Liberal Democrat 2019 parliamentary candidate for Wycombe, Toni Brodelle also piled on Cllr Tett, tweeting his response to BuDS was “ill thought-out”, adding: “I would think that Nazism and its associated atrocities are pretty much universally offensive. Exhibiting the mural in a museum could be a better option than displaying it publicly in this way.”

Councillor for Buckingham Town Council, Jon Harvey also questioned Cllr Tett’s tweets about the mural, writing: “You do know that a later panel of the tapestry features an image of Saddam Hussein – whose statue was symbolically pulled down during after the Iraq War. Should that image have been allowed to remain?”

Councillor David Martin, cabinet member for logistics, replied, “Sadly, plenty more of the same”, linking to a Wikipedia page titled, ‘Crimes against humanity under communist regimes’.

Cllr Tett retweeted Cllr Martin’s tweet, adding: “The Left seem to want to ban whatever they feel affronted by. Stop Press. Hitler was the guy we beat! We should be proud of our stand against fascism.”

Disability charity BuDS defended their original post, tweeting at Cllr Tett: “We aren’t the left and we don’t want to ban anything. We’re not even affronted. We just think a badly designed mural needs changing so it doesn’t feature a huge picture of Hitler and a swastika. It doesn’t need to be a contrived party political point.”

Twitter user @JonesDean77, who disregarded any political partiality, wrote: “… putting a superman logo, an image of Hitler, a Swastika in the centre of the Union Jack…next to a carrot. I don’t think it’s intentional, but it looks a bit odd.”

Adam Eveleigh, youth officer for Buckingham Labour claimed Conservative MP for Buckingham, Greg Smith at one time supported the removal of the mural. Mr Smith’s comment is believed to have been written by his parliamentary assistant, Isabella Wallersteiner.

When approached for comment, Mr Smith said: “Clearly it’s important that we never forget the horrors of the Second World War, not least the millions who lost their lives at home, in battle overseas and as a result of the abhorrent evil of the Holocaust.

“Whilst I am sure no offence was intended, the depiction of Hitler and the Swastika in the centre of our flag is a confusing message and may not meet the necessary sensitivity around the subject.

“Unfortunately, it feels appropriate that the picture is therefore altered or removed from public display.”

Cllr Tett closed his remarks on the matter on August 3, tweeting: “Happy to let the people of Buckingham decide how they wish to commemorate our part in the defeat of the evils of facism. I’m now on holiday and focused on relaxing for a couple of weeks.”