Lib Dem election candidate Jemma Joy slammed after cruelly calling fishing village ‘most inbred’
A LIBERAL Democrat general election candidate has been slammed after calling a village “in-bred”.
Jemma Joy made the shock comment about the northeast village of Skinningrove.
The 2010 post said: “Skinningrove…urgghh. Possible contender for most in-bred village in Britain.”
Joy laughed it off when the post began to circulate online last year, telling TeessideLive she was being sarcastic about the village she had grown up in.
But Joy has now apologised, explaining she is “really really sorry”.
She told the meeting: “At the time I thought I was being edgy, funny, ironic when I wasn’t and I am reminded of that everyday by my children.
“I’d like to say to anybody from the village who was embarrassed, angry, and rightly so, I am really really sorry.”
She was selected in October as the Liberal Democrat candidate for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland, and is set to challenge Sir Simon Clarke.
The Tory MP, formerly minister for Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, had demanded an apology from Joy in October.
On Sunday, he told The Sun: “I was shocked to read about Ms Joy’s slur on my constituents in Skinningrove – you won’t find a more decent or more generous community anywhere in the country.
“While a certain amount of village rivalry is a fun part of life in East Cleveland, this wasn’t the tone of these remarks.
“It’s right Cllr Joy has apologised, but I doubt Grovers are impressed. The Lib Dems too often preach kindness but practice disdain for people who don’t share their archly middle class world view.”
Independent councillor Barry Hunt asked Joy to apologise for the comment.
The 30-year Skinningrove resident said Joy had done the right thing in apologising and she was the victim of a political attack.
“She’s done everything I asked for.
“It was a thing that just had to be settled and she did that.”
The veteran local politician told The Sun the emergence of the historical post last year was a case of “dirty politics”.
“What it comes down to at the end of the day is someone trying to discredit someone.
“As far as I’m concerned it was used in a political way, it’s all to do with the politics of standing to be an MP.”
Joy and the Liberal Democrats have been approached for comment.