What Not to Wear: Senior Tory Suspended by Conservative Party for Dressing as Hitler
Harrogate Council leader Coun Mike Gardner has made a fashion faux pas and there are photos to prove it. The Yorkshire Evening Post ran the incriminating photograph of Gardner dressed up as Hitler, giving the Nazi salute.
The photo, which Gardner claims was released by political rivals, has forced him to be removed from his local Conservative association. This means, come spring, he won’t be able to contest his Pannal (a village in the Harrogate district of North Yorkshire, England) seat for the party. Gardner’s membership to the association will remain suspended pending an investigation. A spokesman for the national Conservative Party said, “It’s the only course of action available.”
What would prompt someone to dress up as Hitler? Gardner had been to a costume party where guests had been asked to dress up as someone from the era in which they were born. Gardner is quoted in the Knaresborough Post saying it was only “a piece of fun.”
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