Cllr Sam Fletcher 'Not A Politician'

Cllr Fletcher has been making his electors, members of CF and his UKIP collogues laugh again by proclaiming "I am not a politician" on a status about attending the YI conference. 

I'm sure the councillor for Bracken Bank and Ingrow ward would like to take a look at the dictionary and see that he is a politician. He is someone "who is professionally involved in politics, especially as a holder of an elected office."

Just remember this next time Cllr Fletcher when you want to go on about your love life.

Fletcher Apologises

After a bit of bluster on Facebook Cllr Sam Fletcher has come out to apologise about what he said about #ThingsElliottSays on the blog's comments and on Facebook. To see the full extent of what Cllr Fletcher had said click here.

Fletcher apologised on Facebook last night saying:

"“Libel” was the wrong word to use, which I do apologise for. You were indiscreet in my opinion.

"What I meant was that another individual was indiscreet for taking a screen-shot of a private message on Facebook and posting it on Twitter, and then you in turn were indiscreet, in my opinion, for using that screenshot on your blog.

"Also, I don't believe that you were breaking the law or employing criminal practices and I don't and didn't mean to suggest that. So I apologise for making that impression, if I did.

"Rather I meant that you used indiscreet practices, in my opinion, and you used a screen-shot of a private Facebook message that had been indiscreetly taken and then Tweeted, in my opinion. The comparison to the former News Of The World newspaper was ill thought-out.

"If you have the impression that I’ve intentionally sought to “libel” you, by claiming that you’ve “libeled” me, or that I’ve “lied” about you by claiming that you’ve broken the law or employed criminal practices, then I sincerely apologise for that.

"I was simply annoyed at what I saw and continue to see as your indiscreet journalism and making an article obtained via a source who had himself been indiscreet, in my opinion. That is the point I was attempting to make.

"I hope this clarifies the situation suitably."

#ThingsElliottSays is personally baffled too as why Cllr Feltcher views using public tweets as 'indiscreet'. However #ThingsElliottSays does not think he properly understood the difference between private and public use of technology anyway considering he announced an adulterous affair on Facebook.

As far as the lies Cllr Fletcher has told about me with any legal implication I consider this case closed.

Fletcher Gets Foolish And Threatens To Sue #ThingsElliottSays

Keighley town councillor Sam Fletcher, well known for #FletcherGate and frankly talking about his ideas on sex, has decided to threaten to sue #ThingsElliottSays for Libel. However, he is a very foolish person because he doesn't fully realise the consequences of what he has done. He could be sued instead.

Recently #ThingsElliottSays published a story about Cllr Sam Fletcher on more of his odd ideas about sex. Gareth Shanks, someone who is an acquittance of Fletcher but certainly not his friend, had publish on Twitter a print screen of a conversion he had had with Sam Fletcher. This is the tweet:

UKIP's very own Councillor Sam Fletcher strikes again pic.twitter.com/5Pkc2adR25
— Bladshevik (@WeAreTheClash) July 27, 2014

#ThingsElliottSays saw Cllr Fletcher's comments in this conversation and thought them very amusing considering his past history of public sexual comments he made during #FletcherGate. I think there is a public interest for the people, especially Cllr Fletcher's constituents, to know that he is firstly continuing to make these sexual comments and secondly for people to think whether he is fit to be a councillor. The hilariousness of Sam Fletcher's comments are funny because he is a councillor and should not be doing these sort of things.

#ThingsElliottSays thus print-screened this public Tweet and posted it on his blog in a story called 'The Bizarre Love Life Of Cllr Sam Fletcher'. In it #ThingsElliottSays recounted #FletcherGate, said Fletcher was again talking about his sexual preferences publicly, mentioned due to the Polish factor that this may upset Nigel Farage, and asked what has happened to Sam's previous 'good salt of the earth Keighley lass'? Through a comedic lens of the nature of what Cllr Fletcher keeps on saying there was a serious political point of telling the news that Sam Fletcher is continuing to make inappropriate sexual comments. Again it asks the question of whether it is proper behaviour from a town councillor to do this?

However, Cllr Fletcher has not taken this article well. He has posted on my blog two comments about the article (you can read them in full here). Importantly Cllr Fletcher says that the print-screened comments were "not a public Facebook status, Twitter or blog post or whatever. It is in fact a screenshot of a private message between myself and an acquaintance." The message was put up on Twitter, which is regarded legally speaking as completely public, #ThingsElliottSays thus has every right to publish the comments.

Cllr Fletcher persisted to makes these comments again and said "this was a PRIVATE Facebook message and yet you are claiming it was a public post. Face it, you have no legitimacy on this one as it was truly a private conversation with a Facebook friend. It's not on my Facebook profile. You are picking up where the News Of The World left off in terms of disreputable journalism and methods of obtaining information."

#ThingsElliottSays repeats what he has said above about Twitter being public. If Cllr Fletcher did not want these comments to be made public he should have not said them or not said them to his friend. #ThingsElliottSays was perfectly entitled to post this story and did not break any laws. #ThingsElliottSays is a respectable and responsible Blogger.

But Cllr Fletcher would not stop. He then posted this publicly on Facebook.

#ThingsElliottSays has no idea how Cllr Fletcher believes my article was libellous. They were his comments!

Furthermore, as somewhat of a finale to Cllr Fletcher's actions, #ThingsElliottSays has heard from a number of reliable sources that Sam Fletcher has been hinting heavily to them that he and YI will threaten to sue #ThingsElliottSays over his recent article. I do hope this is not the case although #ThingsElliottSays has no reason to doubt his sources.

#ThingsElliottSays thinks Cllr Fletcher has been very foolish. #ThingsElliottSays believes that Cllr Fletcher should not have strongly inferred this blog is using illegal and disreputable practices by saying "You are picking up where the News Of The World left off in terms of disreputable journalism and methods of obtaining information." #ThingsElliottSays has proven his blogging is totally correct and legitimate. #ThingsElliottSays also believes that Fletcher should not have strongly inferred that his blog is libellous when saying " 'ThingsElliotSays' is heading the same way as a certain other Tory blog I can think of - getting done for libel." #ThingsElliottSays thinks this is what is really libellous.

In McAlpine v Bercow, Lord McAlpine won damages against Sally Bercow for inferring he was a child abuser publicly on Twitter by tweeting "Why is Lord McAlpine trending? *innocent face*". This land mark ruling amongst other things set a precedent in the law for social media and strongly inferring libellous statements. In #ThingsElliottSays' opinion Cllr Fletcher is likely to have been libellous against him.

#ThingsElliottSays could go straight to his solicitor to gauge what to do next. There could be quite a strong case and he knows some very good lawyers. There is certainly a strong case to report Cllr Fletcher to his standards board and also to UKIP central office. This is regardless of Fletcher's own legal threats but based on what he has publicly said.

But #ThingsElliottSays is also fair and is giving Cllr Fletcher till 9pm today (30th July) to publicly apologise for his comments on Facebook and to send the apology to #ThingsElliottSays who will then publish it on his blog. The matter will then be considered closed. If Cllr Fletcher does not comply #ThingsElliottSays will look to pursue this elsewhere.

The Bizarre Love Life Of Cllr Sam Fletcher

#ThingsElliottSays' beloved friend Sam Fletcher, the UKIP Keighley town councillor for Bracken Bank and Ingrow ward, has some weird sexual ideas. The worst thing about them all is he makes them public. Cllr Fletcher is the man who described to us in graphic detail his affair with a married woman, how he thought lady areas are like mushrooms and why he cannot countenance anyone being a lesbian. To remind yourself of #FletcherGate click here.

But again 'the Cock of the North', as the Daily Star called him, has been talking about his sexual preferences again. At least this time it's not as graphic. It will just annoy Nigel a lot.

I'm sure this policy on Polish ladies will go down well at the next UKIP conference. Whatever happened to Cllr Fletcher's 'good salt of the Earth Keighley lass'?

Fletcher, By-election and Budget: #ThingsElliottSays is Back

Yes, after a fairly long break with not much going on, #ThingsElliottSays is back. We shall continue to show up the socialist oppressors, Europhiles and CF wannabes.

You are probably wondering what has been going on for me to take a long period of time off? Well I was working very hard on the Clifton North by-election, which we sadly lost, and on my essays. I could tell you some wonderful things about the Carolingian Renaissance, Peter the Great of Russia and Stalin but we must move on.

I'm all clued up on Charlemagne.

So in celebration of #ThingsElliottSays' return let's do a quick summary of three things that have been going on. Firstly, do you remember Cllr Sam Fletcher, the woman and gay hating UKIP councillor from Keighley? Well he has decided again that Facebook is exactly the right place to publicly air his strange views. Cllr Fletcher has called Trans-Gender people "part-time homosexuals" and admitted he was "a bit confused by them". You can see all his delightful comments below and read about them further on the Pink News, The Backbencher and International Business Times. I think the people of Keighley will be demanding a right of recall soon.

On Thursday I was also at a by-election in Gamston, in Rushcliffe. I was out there with Ken Clarke and co. campaigning to get the Conservative candidate Jonathan Wheeler elected to serve on Rushcliffe Borough council. This was a seat we needed to hold and I am glad to say we did so. Jonathan got 444 votes with Labour coming second with 218. UKIP also ran and received 173 with the Lib Dems 4th with 170 votes (this was a much better result for the Lib Dems than the Clifton North by-election where they were beaten by Elvis). I hope Jonathan does well on the Borough council, in the time that I got to know him he seemed to know exactly what needed to be done in the area.

Jonathan, Sam and I just about to go out into Gamston to campaign.

And lastly I want to talk about the budget. The word BINGO could be heard across the whole of England (most notably in Harlow) due to the great work of Robert Halfon MP in getting George to cut Bingo tax by half. Rob is very good at making sure the Conservatives attract that 'white van man worker'. But after Petrol and Bingo being slashed, what will Rob and his team, led by the wonderful ex-University of Nottingham student Emily Burditt, be planning for next year?

Eyes down Rob.

Good work was also done by Michael Ellis MP for his pot hole fund. £200 million has been put aside by the government to help with all those potholes that have been caused a record breaking wet winter. Praise all around to Daisy and Ben, the campaign manager and TCO for Northampton North, who helped massively on that campaign. People back in Wisbech will be very pleased as well as the people of Northampton North.

Michael Ellis MP has got a £200 million government grant for pot holes.

But most importantly, George has made my pint cheaper. Beer duty has been cut twice in a row under this government, something to definitely raise a glass to. Cheers George, students across the country thank you.

Cheers George!

So to end up my summary of the past few days here is one of the best parts of the whole political show around budget day. A song commissioned by Sky News about their coverage of the events.

Daily Star Labels Cllr Sam Fletcher 'Cock of the North'

Unbeknown to #ThingsElliottSays until a few hours ago, #FletcherGate was talked about in the Daily Star on Sunday. The Star labelled Cllr Sam Fletcher 'Cock of the North' after he graphically claimed  to be having an adulterous affair and insulted both women and gay people. Sam Fletcher is a UKIP Councillor who was elected late last year to Keighley Town Council, I wonder what Cllr Fletchers' constituents think of his exploits?

The article also confirms that Cllr Fletcher is going to be subject to some sort of discipline from his local UKIP branch. Maybe they'll also discuss whether Sam Fletcher is the right sort of man to stand as a district councillor too?

The article is not available online but #ThingsElliottSays has been sent photos of the small article (sorry its not the greatest quality ever).

Exclusive: Cllr Sam Fletcher to be Kicked Out of UKIP

#ThingsElliottSays has heard from several senior UKIP sources that there is great discontent within UKIP for the stupid comments Cllr Sam Fletcher has made about adultery, women and gay people. Sources have said that as a result of this Sam Fletcher is soon to be kicked out by the Yorkshire Party.

One source said to #ThingsElliottSays that he was "not sure how serious Samuel meant for these comments to be taken seriously. However, I deplore any homophobic comments of any kind, indeed, if these comments were meant to be taken of any seriousness, he ought to keep those opinions (or irritations) to himself, especially being in an elected position as he is."

Photo courtesy of the Pink News.

"Samuel has already had a recent dispute with UKIP Yorkshire Chairman Mike Hookem, no doubt will the UKIP Yorkshire committee seek to remove him from the party." Cllr Sam Fletcher has already had a run in with Yorkshire Chairman Mike Hookem over Godfrey Bloom. Sources say Mr Hookem will take this chance to get rid of Sam Fletcher. According to another source this move would have central party backing also as "the National Chairman Steve Crowther is furious with his [Sam Fletcher's] comments."

So far Rob Comley, the YI Chair, has described Sam's comments as "unsavoury" and a UKIP spokesman has said “The party is concerned by what it has seen and is currently investigating". Looks like Cllr Fletcher has made a lot of friends out of #FletcherGate.

Cllr Fletcher to be cut out of UKIP.

"Pinkoboe-news gets upset about people not embracing bum sex shock horror!" UKIPers react to #FletcherGate

#ThingsEllliottSays' YI source has sent him some of the reactions of UKIP members to #FletcherGate. Amongst them are some very homophobic statements such as the 'pinkoboe-news gets upset about people not embracing bum sex shock horror! What to do? Stand only homosexual candidates?'. Other  reactions include "normal bloke says normal blokeish things, jokes about gays... outrage in Pink News, that outrage picked up and magnified by the leftie Huff Post...then again by self righteous prigs both inside and outside of the party" and "it wasn't.. to anyone but readers of Gay News... who started the hue and cry. Some of you had better not ever work in factories or on building sites, you will faint at what is said by normal working people, and have to have a lie down after every joke." UKIP clearly has a strange idea of 'normal blokeish things'.

Most UKIPers however take issue with Cllr Fletcher over only one thing with many of them saying "wow, I can't believe him. He really thinks the NEC have policy making powers???". Its seems that even UKIP members realise the strength of the cult of personality of Nigel Farage.

Wonder how many UKIP Friends Cllr Fletcher will have after describing him as an 'idiot'.

Some other Kippers however blame Cllr Fletcher for the media storm he created saying "the idiot is detriment to UKIP and members". Other UKIP members have began to ask questions about Cllr Sam Fletcher like "I dont know where we find them but is there a returns policy?" and "Why defend the idiotic?". Looks like locally Cllr Fletcher's position of being a district council candidate may be reconsidered.

In other #FletcherGate news three more articles have gone up about the story in the local Telegraph and Argus, The Gay Courier and The People.

There has also been created a new Facebook page called Samuel Fletcher For Prime Minister. According to the page 'It's been a tough week for Samuel, but we're sure that with some courage and rubber trousers he'll make it to Number 10.' There are some very amusing photos on there.

UKIP Cllr Apologises for #FletcherGate and Insults the Huffington Post

#FletecherGate continues today with Cllr Sam Fletcher putting on his own blog a statement 'regarding Facebook comments which have been reproduced and reported'. Cllr Fletcher says the comments 'have been read and interpreted in the wrong way – a completely different way to how they were meant'. He also says that 'certain comments have been completely taken out of context.' Interestingly Cllr Fletcher believes that the comments were all  'meant as a bit of jovial banter' and 'entertainment'. He has also offered his sincere apologies to any of those who were offended by what he had said.

The thing is with Sam Fletcher's statement is that he seems to forget that some of his 'jokes' were rather offensive, definitely not ones a councillor should publicly say. I don't recommend he becomes a comedian for instance.

Also, although he has apologised for the offence, even out of context I don't think you should be calling gay people 'queers' because it is in general parle a derogatory term. The same goes to other things he said about women and gay people.

Cllr Fletcher on his blog post also makes a journalistic blunder when describing the Huffington Post as 'a publication which calls itself a ‘newspaper’ but i’d beg to differ, to be honest'. I'm sure Medhi Hassan is very happy with that.

Exclusive: Rob Comley Comments on #FletcherGate

Rob Comley, the Young Independence Chairman, has issued a statement exclusively to #ThingsElliottSays. Rob has said 'As a local representative of UKIP Sam needs to be more sensible in what he says in public, even if it is just on his Facebook profile. There was no need for him to continue the debate he was having, and he said some things which were unsavoury. I have passed on concerns to senior members of the party who will deal with the situation if they deem necessary.'

Cllr Fletcher earlier today has said he was receiving support for what he said "all my UKIP friends that have contacted me don't seem to have a problem with a any of it. They can tell when a quip is a quip." He later said about Rob's comments "I hope people in my party, if they've seen any comments, will see them in the right light. The fact that I have said nothing with affects my validity as a member of UKIP or a local representative should be appreciated. I trust Rob Comley and other senior people in UKIP appreciate that."

So far the Pink News, the Huffington Post, Us v Th3m, TBG, The Kernel and the Daily Politico (sorry if I have missed anyone out) have covered #FletcherGate, who will be next?

Exclusive: UKIP Cllr Attacks Women and Gay People

Yesterday #ThingsElliottSays exclusively revealed that Cllr Sam Fletcher, a UKIP town Councillor for Keighley, was involved in an embarrassing adultery scandal. Yesterday after this piece the same man, unprompted by others, continued saying misogynistic and homophobic things on the same Facebook post about immigration. Sam Fletcher is the councillor for Bracken Bank and Ingrow Ward and also the West Yorkshire Officer for Young Independence (the UKIP youth movement).

Cllr Fletcher decided the best thing to do after all of yesterday's saga was to start insulting gay people.









And of course the best way to publicly finish off attacking gay people is to make an Aids joke.

Of course Women were also highly disrespected by Cllr Sam Fletcher, although he claims to be a feminist.

The thing is Cllr Fletcher isn't being a troll or just trying to make people laugh he is being absolutely serious (apart from the aids joke). It was thus time somebody pointed out the tax payer cost of Cllr Sam Fletcher.

Jokingly a lot people started running a YI chairman campaign for Cllr Fletcher.

I bet Rob Comely, the current YI chair, is quaking in fear from such a top quality opponent. No wonder that YI website is currently fleeing from this disaster.

So what did Cllr Fletcher have to say about all these vile things he said.



Well here is what fellow Ukippers had to say about that.





#ThingsElliottSays could just stop the article here but two new things have come to light about Cllr Fletcher's adultery scandal yesterday. Firstly, due to an eagle eyed #ThingsElliottSays' Source, I have been able to recover one of Cllr Sam Fletcher's deleted comments from the Facebook post. Sadly for Cllr Fletcher this does not bode well for his views on women or ideas on what adultery is.

I also managed to interview Cllr Sam Fletcher to see what is going on in his mind. It was the most surreal interview I have ever done because some of the most ludicrous things were said in it. Cllr Fletcher told me 'I have no problem with homosexuals ... Certainly not politically', which leads me to ask does he have a problem with gay people in a non political sense? Sam Fletcher then said about women 'I don't have any "derogatory views" about women. I respect all women as people.' Yesterday's comments about mushrooms and women were also definitely not linked 'I want to say that I was actually talking about mushrooms. Honestly. Not women. Mushrooms are not a euphemism for women or any part of their anatomy!'

But the most weird part of this whole interview is that according to Cllr Sam Fletcher he made up the entire story about adultery. He did this because  'I actually had sex with a girl who wasn't married. Well it was when I told them about the girl having made remarks about a certain part of my anatomy and they asked who and I thought bugger I can't say who. So I said she was married and therefore I couldn't say to cover myself. That's how it started.' This is the most bizarre excuse I have ever heard. It implies that Cllr Fletcher willingly said that he committed adultery, which he then later said was sincere and not a lie, knowing full well the controversy it would create. It is a very bizarre thing to do if true. #ThingsElliottSays' doesn't think anyone can believe this story, but that would be for you to make your mind up over.