Constituency Conservative chairman Gareth Baines claimed women were taking their children into hospital to gain sympathetic “Facebook likes”. Mr Baines later apologised and quit as a chairman of the Clwyd South Conservative Association after several tweets about the NHS. But he remains a councillor.
In one message on New Year’s Eve, Mr Baines wrote: “A&Es in Germany aren’t full of fat mums in Pot Noodle-stained leggings/PJs taking their kids for a day out at A&E to harvest Facebook likes because their darling little snot-covered Asbo fell over.”
In another post, he said: “Our NHS is treated as a sacred cow and cannot be criticised.
“Those arguing for reform are deemed to be Satan incarnate. I’m sorry, but after spending most of my life working on the continent, the NHS isn’t the best in the world – it isn’t one of the best in Europe. Pales when compared with systems like Germany and Norway.”
Mr Baines – who claims to have an honorary doctorate in business administration – has not quit his role as a councillor representing Chirk Town Council, near Wrexham in North Wales. He later claimed that his comments had been “taken out of context”.
Mr Baines acted as an agent for Clwyd South MP Simon Baynes in the 2019 election and rival politicians urged him to take action.
Former Lib Dem council candidate Aimi Waters wrote to Mr Baynes, saying: “As I’m sure you have recently seen on social media, the chair of our local Conservative group in Clwyd South, Mr Gareth Baines, has made some very unsavoury remarks about mothers and their children in A&E waiting rooms.
“Whilst I understand you cannot possibly comment on certain things, and you cannot control what someone else does, you are able to comment on a member of the local Conservative group – a member who is relatively high profile and actually represents people in the community too.”
The Welsh Labour Party said: “This is terrible and shows what he really thinks about the people who use the NHS.”
Mr Baines said in a statement: “Whilst I feel my comments have been taken out of context, I do offer my sincere apologies for any offence they may have caused.
“I have also taken the decision to step down from my role as chairman of Clwyd South Conservative Association with immediate effect.”
