Welsh Conservative Senedd candidate apologises for using 'gay' as insult in tweet

A Welsh Conservatives Senedd candidate has apologised for social media posts in which he used the term ‘gay’ as an insult and appeared to condone inappropriate behaviour towards women.

Samuel Kurtz, who was announced as the Welsh Conservative candidate for Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire in next year’s Senedd elections on Monday, made a series of posts in 2012 and 2013.

In one of the posts on Twitter, Mr Kurtz said he would ‘shake his hand and congratulate him on having fantastic taste in women’ when replying to a tweet which asked how one might respond if a girlfriend was ‘slapped’ on the backside by a man.

When asked for a statement on the tweets and the use of language, Mr Kurtz said: “These tweets were made many years ago, when I was a teenage university student. I have done a lot of growing up since then and they do not represent me, or my views. I do however apologise for any offence they may have caused.”

A Welsh Conservative spokeswoman said: “These tweets date back a number of years. However, that does not make them acceptable, and Sam has apologised.”The tweets using the term ‘gay’ appear to have been deleted.