Racist question removed from Chalfont St Peter hustings

The forum, which took place in the evening of Monday, June 17 at the village’s Gold Hill Baptist Church, saw many people attend as they put their questions and concerns to the panel of potential politicians following next week’s General Election.

And along with the hundreds in attendance, many questions were submitted to the church’s hub.

In all, 111 questions were sent.

But one was removed from the list with the moderator and the church’s lead pastor, Stephen Walker-Williams, expressing his disdain.

All the candidates that are hoping to secure the Chalfont St Peter seat (Image: NA)

Before the hustings began, he told the audience: “Out of the 111 questions on Slido [the programme the church used to have the questions get sent to them from the public], I have removed at least one that was completely and utterly racist.

“We’re not going to have anything like that here tonight [June 17].

“Some [questions] have been written in a way that are not helpful for a discussion.

“So questions have been ranked [in a level of priority] and are clearly important who want to seek improvement in this community.”

Following the notice, the candidates introduced themselves to the Chalfont St Peter crowd with background information, along with what they plan on implementing if elected.

When Julian Foster, the representative for the Heritage Party, spoke to the audience, he explained how he would deal with issues aimed ‘to preserve and promote life, liberty, prosperity and national sovereignty’.

He also expressed his concerns in ‘freedom of speech, immigration, the sexualisation of children in schools, junk science concepts like gender ideology’ along with the ‘billions of pounds that are wasted every year chasing unattainable net zero targets.’

He said: “Political correctness is reaching extreme levels that it’s adversely effecting the way we interact in society.

“We want to give our children the best opportunity to flourish and a society that’s stable based on freedom of speech, along with an economy that’s successful but responsible.”

After his speech, he was met with several murmuring boos, which were heard and slammed by the moderator, Pastor Walker-Williams.

The church leader said: “I heard a murmuring a boo.

“This is an alcohol-free zone, so no ‘boos’ please.

“We respect everyone, even if we disagree with them.

“Let this be a place that is different to the rest of society, where we don’t cancel one another out when we disagree with someone.

“We listen, we can disagree, but we don’t boo them.

“So let’s be respectful.”

The moderator also explained that Sarah Green, the town’s Liberal Democrat candidate and current MP, had to leave almost immediately after the hustings had ended.

This was due to a family funeral taking place the following morning on June 18 in North Wales.

Additionally, Laurence Jarvis from the Reform Party was unable to attend due to illness, whilst Muhammad Pervez Khan from the Workers Party did not give a reason for his absence.

Pastor Walker-Williams explained he had sent several emails and Facebook messages, but did not get a response.