2013-04-16 10:05:26 +02:00

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# Councillor made Nazi salute in Adolf Hitler outfit
## Mike Gardner, a council leader from Harrogate, has been photographed at a
party dressed up as Adolf Hitler and performing the Nazi salute.
![Harrogate councillor Mike Gardner who dressed as hitler at a fancy dress
birthday party the conroversial picture was posted on facebook: Councillor
made Nazi salute in Hitler outfit][1]
Harrogate councillor Mike Gardner who dressed as hitler at a fancy dress
birthday party the conroversial picture was posted on facebook Photo: ROSS
PARRY
9:39AM BST 22 Oct 2010
Tory councillor Mr Gardner has now been deselected after pictures of him at
the fancy dress birthday bash were leaked onto the Internet via the social
networking site, Facebook.
His colleagues in the Conservative party said his behaviour was "unacceptable"
while Cllr Gardner claims he was the victim of a smear campaign.
While the politician will not be able to stand as a conservative in the next
election he remains leader of Harrogate Borough Council, North Yorkshire, and
a ward member until the end of his office term.
Heather Adderley, chairman of the Harrogate and Knaresborough Conservative
Association, said: "For Councillor Mike Gardner to dress up as he did is
totally unacceptable and we condemn it.
"Councillor Gardner was deselected and as a result will not (be) standing as a
Conservative candidate next year.
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"A new candidate has already been selected and is busy working in the ward."
Cllr Gardner defended himself, saying: "I don't dress up as a Nazi normally.
This was an exception. I am not a Nazi and I don't behave like that.
"It was a private birthday party and the dress code was the war.
"Do I feel ashamed? No. It was fancy dress and a piece of fun.
"The invitation was to depict the year in which you were born, I was born in
the war."
He added that he checked with the organiser whether his outfit would be
acceptable.
He said: "There were a lot of people at the party who are in the armed forces
or the MOD, it was not offensive to them or to the family.
"I was brought up in the war, my mother and father were heavily engaged in
fighting the Nazis. We grew up hating the Nazis.
My father was a pilot in the war, and my mother worked in the munitions
industry.
The fight against Hitler and the Nazis dominated my life in childhood. In that
context everyone was greatly amused.
"If I had done this as a councillor I would expect to be shot.
"I have done nothing wrong, I am sorry that offence has been taken but it does
not impinge any standard in the council."
He blamed political rivals for leaking the photo, adding that it had been done
in a "nasty" and "dubious" way.
He insisted that he "can not remember" doing a Nazi salute or having his photo
taken, but he has been forced to defend himself to his fellow councillors.
In a statement to them, he said: Now we dont hate the Germans but we do make
fun about the Nazis - so to fit in with the evening I hired a German or Nazi
uniform for that specific occasion.
There were many weird and wonderful outfits and it was a very successful piece
of fun or pantomime as intended and I offended nobody by dressing as Hitler.
His partner later put the pictures on Facebook with restricted access but they
were withdrawn soon afterwards.
A spokesman for Harrogate council said Cllr Gardner was still council leader
and remained Tory member for the Pannal ward.
She added there was "no issue with the members' code of conduct".
The councillor was suspended form his local Conservative party in July,
following the birthday bash in May.
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salute-in-Adolf-Hitler-outfit.html
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