Election candidate chosen by the Dewsbury Conservative Association accused of “inappropriate” tweets

Tim Bamford, who is standing for the Conservatives in Denby Dale, said he was “shocked” to see a screenshot of a video a woman baring her breasts on his twitter account.

It appeared on his feed in December.

And historical tweets dating back to 2013 have been unearthed relating to migrants and paedophilia in the church.

The two tweets were forwarded anonymously to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) by a critic who said they were “very concerned” about the situation and the suitability of Mr Bamford to be a council candidate.

Mr Bamford, who tweeted about his candidacy on February 25, has been active in his community as part of a vocal campaign to stop building on farmland in Skelmanthorpe.

He was selected by Dewsbury Conservative Association in August last year.

Reacting to a screenshot of the video provided by the LDRS Mr Bamford said: “I’m shocked. I wouldn’t ‘like’ anything like that. The lads would have noticed it and would have pulled me up.

“I am 100 per cent clear that I have not done that. That’s news to me.

“Could I have been hacked?”

Tweets dating back to 2013 referred to migrants arriving illegally in the UK and comparing their treatment here with that of countries such as North Korea and Afghanistan, and to paedophilia in the church.

The person who raised the content of the tweets said: “The first comment I was made aware of joked about the sexual abuse in the church and paedophilia.

“I am a churchgoer myself.

“I imagine this person thought this was just a harmless joke, but posting this in middle age and then seeking my vote is, to me, unbelievable and personally I found it quite upsetting.

“In the least it is a lapse of judgement and I would expect that others like myself in our area, if they were aware of it, would want the candidate to reflect on this and apologise.”

They added: “I was also made aware of another post from the candidate that is false and hateful about migrants. To me, this raised concerns about his suitability for office.

“I feel we are at least owed an apology for the offensive church comment that has been made and I am simply shocked by the pornography, as well as the hateful post about migrants.

“I believe that this speaks to the character of a potential councillor and that is a matter that local residents have a right to take into consideration – if the candidate does indeed decide to continue as the candidate for my area.”

The Tories are hoping to unseat veteran Labour councillor Graham Turner on May 7. A senior figure on Kirklees Council and a member of the Labour administration’s decision-making Cabinet, his majority in Denby Dale is just 147 votes.

After viewing the video Mr Bamford said: “This is absolute total nonsense and really shows the depths someone would sink to.

“The appalling video was not tweeted by me or liked by me. Today when you contacted me is the first time I have seen it.

“If I had put such a depraved video or even a like, then others who follow my account, including my wife and daughter, MP Mark Eastwood, friends and business associates would have spoken to me directly or commented.

“I cannot tell you the distress this has caused to my family – who would have thought standing as a candidate in a local election in May would make someone do this?

“They won’t win but there is something very rotten and evil behind this.”