General election: Welsh Tories stand by candidate who said Benefits Street stars need 'putting down'
Francesca O'Brien says her comments were made "off the cuff" but accepted her "use of language was unacceptable".
Monday 4 November 2019 19:56, UK
The Welsh Conservatives have defended a candidate who in 2014 said that people on the TV show Benefits Street needed "putting down".
Francesca O'Brien, general election candidate for the key marginal seat of Gower in Wales, wrote on Facebook that those on the reality show should be killed.
She said her comments were made "off the cuff" but accepted her "use of language was unacceptable".
Welsh Conservative Party chairman Byron Davies said her comments had been made in the "heat of the moment". He went on to accuse Labour of trying to deflect from discussing Brexit.
Lord Davies of Gower, who was MP for Gower between 2015 and 2017, said: "The comments were inadvisable, obviously, but made in the heat of the moment watching a television programme.
"But I don't condone it in any shape or form.
"However, this is a dredging exercise on the part of the Labour Party whose candidate in the Gower doesn't want to talk about Brexit."
The TV programme followed the lives of people on benefits.
In January 2014, Ms O'Brien wrote: "Benefit Street..anyone else watching this?? Wow, these people are unreal!!!"
Replying to a comment, she added: "My blood is boiling, these people need putting down."
The comments have since been deleted.
Ms O'Brien and her team have temporarily paused campaigning after the comments were reported by the Guardian.
In a statement released on Sunday, Ms O'Brien said: "These comments were made off the cuff, a number of years ago.
"However, I accept that my use of language was unacceptable and I would like to apologise for any upset I have caused."
Labour's Tonia Antoniazzi won the seat in 2017 with 3,269 more votes ahead of the Conservative candidate.
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