Local MP James Gray suggested a bomb should be planted in a Labour Party office.
The Conservative, who has represented North Wiltshire in parliament since 1997, made the ‘foolish remark’ in a private WhatsApp group the day before Labour’s party conference in Brighton.
The concerning suggestion he claims was a joke, was about Anneliese Dodds, the shadow women and equalities minister.
In the exchange on 24 September, MP Rob Largan posted in the Tory WhatsApp group: “Does anybody know where Anneliese Dodds’ Commons office is based? I need to deliver something to her office.”
In response, Mr Gray said: “A bomb, perhaps?”
His comment reportedly upset female MPs within his own party, some of whom are understood to want to raise it with the Conservative Party headquarters, according to the Mail on Sunday.
It’s said his worrying words brought back memories of the IRA’s 1984 bombing of the Grand Hotel in Brighton, during the Tory conference. The perpetrator’s plan was to kill then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. One MP and four others were killed in the blast. 31 people were injured.
Talking to the Mirror, Mr Gray said: “This was a foolish remark made on a private What’s App and deleted almost immediately.
“I meant no offence of any kind, and hope none was taken.”
