Haverfordwest: Councillor made racist slave comment

A former councillor was the voice in an audio recording of someone making racist comments, an ombudsman investigation has found.

Political opponents identified Andrew Edwards on a 16-second audio recording of someone saying white men should have a black slave.

Mr Edwards, who represented the Haverfordwest Prendergast ward on Pembrokeshire County Council before stepping down in December 2024, told the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales he was the victim of a “deep fake”.

But Michelle Morris said “the investigation found, on balance, that it was the former member’s voice on the voice recording”.

In the recording, the person can be heard saying: “Nothing wrong with the skin colour at all.

“I think all white men should have a black man as a slave or black woman as a slave, you know.

“There’s nothing wrong with skin colour, it’s just that they’re lower class than us white people.”

Mr Edwards, a former Conservative council member, referred himself to the ombudsman.

In an interview during the investigation, he claimed the voice recording was a “deep fake”, created with malicious intent by someone using an algorithm to make it seem authentic.

In her report, Ms Morris said it probably was his voice on the recording and that it had been sent as a voice note to his partner via WhatsApp.

“The content of the voice note was considered racist,” she wrote.

Mr Edwards did admit sharing information about council business alongside disrespectful comments about members of the public via WhatsApp with his partner.

He explained he was under personal pressure at the time and was “venting” to his partner.

Ms Morris found his conduct “could reasonably be considered as disreputable and was capable of seriously undermining public confidence in the council and the office of member”.

She referred the matter to the Adjudication Panel for Wales, which considers alleged breaches of local authority codes of conduct.